Energy efficiency will help save $6.5 bn/yr: Piyush Goyal

The Centre's Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme will result in savings of up to USD 6.5 billion annually through energy efficiency and also help reduce carbon dioxide emission by 80 million tonnes (MT), Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said today.
"Energy efficiency has been a serious priority of this government. In fact, it has more potential than any other programme. The LED programme can lead to a USD 6.5 billion savings and reduction of 80 MT carbon dioxide emission per year," Goyal said at the India Today Conclave here.
The government initiated the Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP) last year under which it has already provided over 7.9 crore LED bulbs to families through power distribution companies through an EMI of Rs 10 per month per each bulb. The discoms add the EMI to consumers' electricity bills.

Through bulk tendering, the government has reduced the procurement price of these LED bulbs to Rs 64.41 in January 2016 from the market rate of Rs 310 in February 2014.
Goyal, who also holds the portfolio of New and Renewable Energy, said the government will achieve its target to electrify 18,452 villages within the set deadline.
The government has so far electrified over 6,700 villages out of the total 18,452 unelectrified villages, and with 409 days still to go, the target will be achieved, he said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech last year announced the initiative to electrify these 18,452 villages in 1,000 days - by May 2018.

Explaining the benefits of the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY), the Minister said: "I am confident that by 2019 every state discom will make profits," he said.
The Centre had launched the UDAY scheme in November 2015 for the revival of power distribution companies across India, which have cumulative debt of over Rs 4.37 lakh crore.
The minister pointed out that in the last decade, certain
policies were being followed due to which the annual growth rate of coal production in the country was not more than 1-3 per cent.
Further, he noted that the power plants were so designed that, on one hand, they were dependent on imported coal and on the other, were operating on sub optimal efficiency levels.

Goyal said that in the evolving world energy scenario, it is quite possible that India's coal reserves remain unused in the times to come as we would be shifting towards cleaner energy technologies like solar and wind.
The minister expressed his anguish on the policies followed by the previous government due to which precious foreign exchange reserve have been wasted over the years in importing coal and feeding our domestic power plants, overlooking the precious reserves that the country has.
Talking about the recent developments in the power sector, Goyal expressed happiness in announcing that after three years of his Ministry's persuasion, the Tamil Nadu government has finally agreed to source domestic coal from mines in Odisha for its Cheyyur Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) instead of imported coal.

This would be a big step in making India self-reliant in using domestic coal for thermal power generation.
The Minister added that the government is in dialogue with the coal companies to encourage focus on improvements in their power plant efficiencies by factoring in the third party sampling of coal. This would ensure quality coal to the plants.
Goyal said that profits of coal companies will not determine the way coal is sold and priced in India. It will have to be a function of efficiency and good governance and the coal companies will have to earn the profits through increasing efficiency of power generation. Benefit to the end consumer has to be the ultimate goal, he said.

Talking about the huge strides that have been taken in the solar power sector, the minister said that on March 10, the installed solar power capacity in India crossed 10,000 MW mark, four times the installed capacity three years back, which in next 15 months would cross 20,000 MW.
He added that India could not have completely focused on 'Make in India' in the last three years as being in the nascent stage, its solar power sector needed technological and financial boost from abroad.
Now, the sector has reached certain maturity level which will lead the country becoming self-reliant in meeting its green energy needs. The proof is the drastic reduction in cost of solar power, becoming comparable with thermal power in India, he said.

The country has shown to the world that India is a big marketplace for manufacturing in solar power sector and international investors and manufacturers have started setting up manufacturing units in the country, he noted.
Goyal also encouraged the industry stalwarts present at the event to ramp up the silicon wafer manufacturing industry and manufacturing of solar cells in India.
He also talked about devising strategies to combine solar power with electric vehicles, which have three times the energy efficiency of engines that run on fossil fuels. This would be a revolution in the transportation sector, he added.