Residents of north and northwest Delhi will finally be able to purchase energy efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) for Rs 15. Discom NDPL launched Bureau of Energy Efficiency's (BLY) bachat lamp yojana on Tuesday under which each household in the NDLP area will be entitled to four CFLs at the low rates.
C-Quest Capital, a carbon finance company, has undertaken to supply 2.2 million CFLs under the project in the coming months. Its managing director Matthew Mendis said: "Based on our projections, if 2.2 million CFLs were to replace as many incandescent bulbs, there would be a saving of 1,600 gigawatt hours worth Rs 800 crore. We will also be able to save 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by reducing consumption of over 2 million tonnes of coal."
The scheme will also shortly be launched for consumers under BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd in south and west Delhi.
Sunil Wadhwa, CEO, NDPL said each NDPL residential consumer will get up to a maximum of four CFLs at Rs 15 each in exchange of an equal number of working incandescent bulbs. "Once the project is completed, it is expected to result in a reduction of more than 65MW in the demand for energy in NDPL areas. CFLs are an excellent alternative to bulbs since they use five times less electricity," he said.
Officials said that even though CFLs are extremely cost effective in the long run, their high initial price of between Rs 90 to Rs 115 proved to be a deterrent in their popularity, especially in the domestic sector. C-Quest Capital, that is financing the project for NDPL, will support the high purchase cost through sale of carbon credits. The CFLs will be supplied by Energetic India and distributed by the Yuvraj Singh Foundation.
The CLFs are specially designed with an extended life of 10,000 hours against their normal life of 6,000 hours.
Chief minister Sheila Dikshit who inaugurated the project said that power consumption in Delhi had grown dramatically over the past few years to touch about 5,000MW. Unless energy efficiency measures become a way of life, Dikshit said, Delhi would soon be entering the dark ages.
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