Union minister for power, coal, new and renewable energy Piyush Goyal on Saturday said that India has taken up a massive energy efficiency mission under which it will switch over to LED bulbs by the end of 2018, which would result in a saving $6 billion per annum.
Speaking at Harvard College US-India Initiative conference in Mumbai, Mr Goyal said 4.59 crore LED bulbs have been distributed till now under the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP). “When all the 71 crore conventional bulbs are replaced by LED bulbs it will result in a saving of 100 billion units of electricity” he said. The Centre has set a target to distribute over six crore LED bulbs via the state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL).
The minister said the LED programme was being implemented in a mission mode and the EESL has been successful in bringing down the price of LED bulbs to a quarter of what they were priced at a year and a half ago. “We have been able to procure LED bulbs for about '73 per piece as of June, down from '310 in Feb. 2014, a reduction of 76 per cent” he said.
Mr Goyal said states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, which have large deposits of coal, are energy starved. “The PM has given me a target of 1,000 days for electricity to reach 18,000 villages that are not electrified. But, I am confident we will accomplish this mission within 730 days,” he said.
