Power ministry plans to sell LEDs for Rs10

A day after the Nobel Prize in physics was won by the scientists who invented blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), the power ministry on Wednesday launched a business model enabling the sale of LEDs to households at Rs.10 against the market price of Rs.400.

"The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) together with the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which is a joint venture of four central public sector undertakings in the power sector, have worked with electricity distribution companies (discoms) to develop a business model under which EESL procures LED bulbs in bulk and sells them to households at Rs.10," an official release here said.

"The discoms then repay EESL, over a period of five to eight years from the savings that accrue due to use of this energy efficient lighting technology," it added.

Under an MoU between EESL and the Andhra Pradesh government, EESL last week completed the procurement of two million LEDs, the statement said.

"Almost the entire lighting industry participated in the bid and the lowest quoted price was Rs.204 per LED bulb," it added.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu Thursday launched the Energy Conservation Mission's Demand Side Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) in the state, which promotes replacement of incandescent bulbs with energy-efficient LED bulbs. The DELP is covering 3.7 million households, who will be provided with two high quality LED bulbs each at a subsidized price of Rs.10.

The programme started in Guntur, to be followed by Anantapur, West Godavari and Srikakulam districts.

The union power ministry has already decided that all below-poverty line households at the time of electrification under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyuthikaran Yojana (RGGVY) would be provided LED technology.

LEDs are emerging as the most energy-efficient source of lighting as they use one-tenth of the energy of a normal incandescent bulb and half as much energy as a Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) to produce the same amount of light.

The first LED lamp made in India, in 2010, was sold for Rs.1,200, the ministry said.

EESL has already completed a number of projects to retrofit existing streetlights to LED streetlights as well as a 750,000 LED bulb replacement project for households in Pudhuchery, the statement said.

"Increase in domestic demand would further reduce cost of LED bulbs with larger production capacities getting created in India," it said.

All lighting manufacturers have established domestic manufacturing facilities for LED-based lighting system, and have started training programmes for engineers and demonstration programmes in various buildings to showcase this technology, it added.