Going forward, EESL has an ambitious plan in the Street Lighting National Programme portfolio for next four to five years where it intends to bring investment to the tune of Rs 8,000 crores by 2024 by covering entire rural India
Under UJALA, EESL has distributed over 36.69 crore LED bulbs across India. This, as per the Ministry of Power, has resulted in estimated energy savings of 47.65 billion kWh per year with avoided peak demand of 9,540 MW and estimated GHG emission reduction of 38.59 million tonnes CO2 per year. Additionally, over 72 lakh LED tube lights and over 23 lakh energy efficient fans have also been distributed at affordable price under this programme.
With Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), EESL has also installed about 1.14 crore LED streetlights across India. This has resulted in an estimated energy savings of 7.67 billion kWh per year with avoided peak demand of 1,280 MW and estimated GHG emission reduction of 5.29 million tonnes CO2 per year. Moreover, there have been an estimated annual monetary savings of Rs 5,210 crore in electricity bills of municipalities.
“When we first began our UJALA and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), we had envisioned a cleaner, greener and brighter India. Today, as both our flagships initiatives complete their six years of excellence, I can say that we have met and surpassed our original objectives. However, much still needs to be done, and I firmly believe that these two initiatives will be transforming illumination and energy efficiency, for years to come,” stated Saurabh Kumar, executive vice chairperson, EESL.
The domestic LED market has grown significantly beyond the UJALA programme, with the industry selling over 1.15 billion LEDs, far exceeding the UJALA programme’s target of 700 million LED units. Going forward, EESL has an ambitious plan in the SLNP portfolio for next 4-5 years where it intends to bring investment to the tune of Rs 8,000 crores by 2024 by covering entire rural India. It is expected that more than 30 million LED streetlights would be retrofitted/installed by EESL.
“In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of climate change is more real than ever before. At EESL, we understand that energy efficiency is a powerful tool to mitigate environmental challenges of the future, while at the same time make a positive impact on the economy. I congratulate all the State Governments, Urban Local Bodies, stakeholders and EESL’s young team for their continued efforts towards achieving the country’s energy efficiency goals. Together, we will continue the hard work and take forward EESL’s legacy of keeping India on track of achieving its ambitious energy efficient goals, even in a post-pandemic world,” noted Rajat Sud, Managing Director, EESL.
