Centre to study Andhra Pradesh's LED success

Hyderabad: Having set a target of saving 21,500 MW of energy through LED bulbs project in the country, Government of India is sending a high level team to Andhra Pradesh to study the “success model” wherein Chandrababu Naidu government has already distributed 1.85 crore LED bulbs in the domestic sector and has started saving energy.

Officials said Central government has targeted to replace 77 crore conventional bulbs in the domestic sector and another 3.5 crore ordinary street lights with LED’s in the country by 2018-19. This is expected to result in substantial reduction of 21,500 MW electricity demand worth Rs 40,000 crore energy savings per annum.

Appreciating the efforts of official machinery whose hard work resulted in AP leading the energy efficiency programmes in the country, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu stressed the need for the officials to continue to work in a mission mode to realise substantial energy savings.

AP Energy Secretary Mr Ajay Jain said the team headed by Energy Efficiency Services Limited Managing Director Saurabh Kumar is likely to meet Chief Minister on Saturday and discuss the latest trends in energy efficiency in the country. Centre wants to showcase AP as a model to other states which are lagging behind in LED project implementation.

The team is expected to study AP’s achievement of distribution of over 1.85 crore LED bulbs as on March 24, 2016, its plan to achieve 100 per cent coverage which requires another 45 lakh LED bulbs, the third party audit report which reveals AP has saved 421 million units of energy due to LED lights project in four districts, replacement of existing streetlights with LEDs in urban local bodies especially Visakhapatnam city which resulted in energy savings of 70 million units worth Rs 4.23 crore per annum, and AP’s plan to launch distribution of energy efficient fans at Rs 955 per fan against the market value of Rs 1,500 per fan.