India to be electricity-based economy eventually, says R K Singh
Power Minister R K Singh on Monday said India will eventually be an electricity-based economy, as the nation is embarking on power usage for running vehicles and cooking food. "The entire power sector is going through change and this change will continue. We want to electrify our whole economy. The energy would be through electricity rather than through petroleum products or other forms of energy," Singh said at a function to mark 10 years of state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) here.
The minister said, "Besides mobility, the next target would be cooking by electricity. So, we will electrify the economy and make electricity green (generation through renewable). Those are our long-term goals." EESL, a joint venture of public sector undertakings under the power ministry, has completed 10 years of scaling up energy efficiency programmes in India and globally.
Established in 2009 to unlock the potential of energy efficiency, initiatives implemented by EESL have cumulatively led to energy savings of over 58 billion kWh (units) and a reduction of over 46 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions across the globe. In its 10 years, EESL has had an exponential growth, with offices spread across India, the UK, Middle East, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
EESL's revenue has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 114.96 per cent from Rs 26 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 2,565 crore in 2018-19. With its rapid growth, EESL now aims to become a Rs 10,000-crore company in the next three years. Lauding the business models provided by EESL to promote energy efficiency on the occasion, Singh said, "Business model, that is what works. You can have subsidy models. I have found through experience that the subsidy model does not work as well as a business model. That is what EESL brought in energy efficiency. The business model made it possible to replace agriculture (water) pumps with energy-efficient pumps."
The minister announced successful installation of 10 lakh smart meters across India, under the government's Smart Meter National Programme (SMNP). These smart meters, operational in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Bihar, aim to bring efficiency in the distribution system leading to better service delivery. He also announced commissioning of 100-megawatt (MW) cumulative capacity decentralised solar power plants connected to agriculture feeders.
The capacity of these solar power plants, in each substation, ranges from 0.5 MW to 10 MW. The decentralised solar plants cater to the requirements of farmers connected to the respective agriculture feeder daily, by means of reliable day-time electricity. The minister also launched the dashboards of SMNP, National Electric Mobility Programme (NEMP) and solar initiatives to transparently monitor the real-time progress of the programmes and its impact.
He also launched an integrated mobile application, EK EESL, where all the dashboards of all the programmes being implemented by EESL will be accessible and anyone can monitor their real-time progress. In the context of the NEMP, he highlighted that the electric vehicles deployed by EESL have completed 2 crore cumulative kilometers. EESL and the Provincial Energy Authority, Ministry of Interior, Royal Thai Government, signed a pact during the event for long-term cooperation and collaboration to advance the implementation and deployment of energy efficiency measures at small and medium enterprises in Thailand.
Energy Efficiency Services Ltd spearheaded and implemented the zero-subsidy Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) programme by distributing over 36.16 crore LED bulbs and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) by retrofitting over 1.06 crore street lights with LEDs. Under the Buildings Energy Efficiency Programme, EESL has completed projects in 10,344 buildings, including railway stations and airports.
Implementing the Agriculture Demand-Side Management (AgDSM), EESL has installed over 73,800 pumps in Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
Under the NEMP, till date, 1,510 e-cars have been deployed or under registration. For charging e-cars, 300 AC and 170 DC captive chargers have also been commissioned and 68 public charging points are currently operational in Delhi-NCR.
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