Bachat Lamp Yojana Launched - The majority of lighting needs of the households in the country is met by incandescent bulbs which are extremely energy inefficient as 95% of the electricity is converted in heat and just 5% is used for lighting. Lighting accounts for about 20% of electricity consumption and has a significant potential for reduction of the load without compromising on the lumen output by use of energy efficient lighting in place of incandescent bulbs. CFLs provide that energy-efficient alternative to the incandescent lamp by using one-fifth as much electricity as an incandescent lamp to provide the same level of illumination. Government’s efforts for promotion of CFLs are having the desired impact on the market with the sales of CFLs in India having grown from about 20 million in 2003 to around 200 million in 2008. However, the penetration of Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) in household sector remains low at about 5% -10% largely due to the high price of the CFLs, which is 8-10 times the cost of incandescent bulbs. The Bachat Lamp Yojana focuses on this first cost barrier to reduce the cost of CFLs to that of incandescent bulbs. The scheme was launched today by the Union Minister of Power, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde in New Delhi. The Bachat Lamp Yojana promotes replacement of inefficient bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) by leveraging the sale of Certified Emission Rights (CERs) under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol. The scheme provides a unique platform for a robust public-private partnership between the Government of India, Private sector CFL suppliers and State level Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) and provides a the framework to distribute high quality CFLs at about Rs.15 per piece to the households of the country. Under the scheme only 60 Watt and 100 Watt incandescent Lamps have to be replaced with 11to15 Watt and 20 -25 Watt CFLs respectively. BEE will undertake monitoring of each project area as required under an approved methodology of CDM. For this purpose, BEE has developed smart meters based on GSM technology that are fitted between the socket and the CFL in sample households (around 200 in each project area). The GSM based meter collects the data on hours of use and energy consumed by sending SMS to the central server. An independent agency to undertake this job has already been selected and meters have been installed in Vizag and Yamunagar and are under installation in several other areas like Jaipur, Himachal Pradesh, etc.
Given the high transaction cost of preparation and registration of CDM projects and the fact that public sector in India do not possess adequate capacities to undertake them, BEE has developed a Programme of Activities (PoA) which would serve as an umbrella CDM project, once registered with the CDM Executive Board. The individual projects, designed to be in conformance with the umbrella project, would be added to the umbrella project as and when they are prepared. The development of the PoA is a voluntary action on the part of BEE and it would not seek any commercial revenues from the PoA. On the other hand, it will on behalf of the Government of India take the responsibility of monitoring of all project areas after the DISCOMs and the CFL suppliers have entered into a tripartite agreement (TPA) with BEE. This will be the largest PoA to be submitted to the CDM Executive Board by anyone in the world. Alongwith the PoA, BEE has also prepared model project documentation in accordance with requirements of the CDM to enable states and other private investors to take them up. ...PIB (26 February 2009) |
