BWI: BEE’s Bachat Lamp Yojana gets UNFCCC Nod

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE)
Friday, April 30, 2010 05:17 PM IST (11:47 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Environment, Politics, Social issues; Business: Business services, Electronic appliances & components, Energy companies; Technology
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BEE's Bachat Lamp Yojana gets UNFCCC Nod


New Delhi, Delhi, India, Friday, April 30, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- . Scheme to promote energy efficient lighting, save power
. Quality CFLs to cost only INR15 in lieu of incandescent lamps
. Bachat Lamp Yojana largest PoA to be implemented

The Bachat Lamp Yojana (BLY), developed by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) under the aegis of the Ministry of Power, is now registered under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol, part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The UNFCCC is the centrepiece of global efforts to combat global warming. Developed to promote energy efficient lighting in India, BLY promotes replacement of inefficient bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) by leveraging the sale of Certified Emission Rights (CERs) under the CDM. The scheme was launched by the Union Minister of Power, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, in February 2009.

Under the BLY scheme, quality CFLs would be distributed to grid-connected residential households in exchange of an incandescent lamp (ICL) and INR 15. Given the high transaction cost of preparation and registration of CDM projects and for wider reach and faster implementation, BEE has developed a Programme of Activities (PoA) which would serve as an umbrella CDM project. The individual projects, designed to be in conformance with the umbrella project, would be added to the umbrella project as and when they are prepared.

The development of the PoA is a voluntary action on the part of BEE and it would not seek any commercial revenues from the PoA. On the other hand, on behalf of the Government of India it will take the responsibility of monitoring of all project areas after the DISCOMs and the CFL suppliers have entered into a tripartite agreement (TPA) with BEE. This is the largest PoA in terms of carbon dioxide emission reductions, to be ever registered by the CDM Executive Board.

Speaking on the occasion, Union Minister of Power, Shri Sushil Kumar Shinde, said, "The Bachat Lamp Yojana is a move towards promoting energy efficiency in India. It is the biggest Programme of Activities of its kind in the world and provides a great opportunity for a robust public private partnership. We are not only looking at reducing emissions by way of efficient end use of electricity, but also at reducing the peak load in the country, which currently faces a shortage of up to 15 per cent. The replacement of the ICLs by CFLs would lead to a potential reduction of over 6,000 MW in electricity demand."

Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General of BEE, said, "The current penetration of CFL in the household sector remains low at about 5-10 per cent largely due to the high price of the CFLs, which is 8-10 times the cost of incandescent bulbs. The Bachat Lamp Yojana focuses on this first cost barrier to reduce the cost of CFLs to that of incandescent bulbs for consumers. At Rs 15 apiece for CFLs, the BLY is a win-win situation for all. Consumers will not only be able to save on their electricity bills but also help meet the energy efficiency targets of the country."

Domestic appliances and lighting sector accounts for almost 22 per cent of the total electricity demand in India, and contributes almost fully to the peak load as well. It is estimated that there are over 400 million light points in India lighted using Incandescent Lamps. ICLs are extremely energy in-efficient, with just 5 per cent of the electricity input converted to light. The remaining is lost as heat. In recent years the CFL has emerged as an energy efficient alternative, as a CFL uses only one-fifth as much electricity as an ICL to provide the same amount of illumination.

The BLY scheme provides a unique platform for a healthy public-private partnership between the Government of India, Private sector CFL suppliers and State level Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) and provides a the framework to distribute high quality CFLs at about Rs.15 per piece to the households of the country. Under the scheme 60 Watt and 100 Watt incandescent Lamps will be replaced with 11 to 15 Watt and 20-25 Watt CFLs respectively. BEE will undertake monitoring of each project area as required under an approved methodology of CDM. The replacement potential of ICLs with CFLs is also borne out of the fact that in the year 2008, ICL sales in India were 734 million whereas CFL sales were just 199 million. The penetration share of incandescent lamps for lighting in commercial and residential sector put together is thus nearly 80% in India. The penetration of CFLs in households remains low very on account of the high price of the CFLs, which is 8-10 times the cost of incandescent bulbs.

India is a signatory to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. While UNFCCC seeks to stabilize atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases "at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic (human-induced) interference with the climate system", the Kyoto Protocol, linked to the UNFCCC, was developed to meet the ultimate objective of the UNFCCC which is to "stabilize GHG concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent anthropogenic interference with the climate system", through quantified emission targets within a specified time frame. The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol, allows emission reduction projects that assist in creating sustainable development in developing countries to generate "certified emission reductions" (CERs) for use by the investor. The CDM process not only takes a long time but also has high transaction costs as a result of which it has not been very attractive for energy efficiency projects, which are usually small in terms of investments. The PoA will reduce the transaction cost as the umbrella project registration will allow smaller projects to be included without going through the entire process of due diligence. This would enable the private investors to get CDM revenues in an expeditious manner. The registration will pave the way for an accelerated implementation of the scheme.


CONTACT DETAILS
Mr Saurabh Bhatnagar, Bureau of Energy Efficiency, +91 11 26179699, saurabh.bee@gmail.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENVIRONMENT, POLITICS, SOCIAL, BUSINESS SERVICES, ELECTRONICS, ENERGY, TECHNOLOGY

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