The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has entered the final stages of a ‘CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) campaign' aiming to distribute 1.5 crore energy-efficient CFL bulbs in the State in place of incandescent bulbs.
This is part of ‘Bachat Lamp Yojna' (BLY), the larger countrywide project and reputedly among world's largest such, approved under Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
The KSEB has already distributed 1.23 crore CFL bulbs, having covered the southern districts, says Mr Damodaran Namboodiri K. S., Chief Engineer, Corporate Planning.
Being implemented by the Energy Management Centre-Kerala (EMC), an autonomous centre under the Department of Power, the campaign is currently going live in the northern districts.
It is expected to close by Tuesday, Mr Namboodiri told Business Line here. Kerala is the first State to embrace the BLY idea and go the whole hog implementing it.
Demand reduction
According to Mr K. M. Dharesan Unnithan, Director, EMC, about 25 million light points in the State used to feature incandescent bulb connections.
By providing 1.5 crore CFLs, the technically possible reduction in demand has been estimated at nearly 690 MW. Effective reduction could be around 250 to 300 MW, giving allowance for the stock of CFL bulbs already in use.
The switchover to CFL bulbs in the State should enable the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of an estimated 30 lakh tonnes, Mr Unnithan said.
Lagging at times
On completion, the campaign effort would be audited and validated by the competent authority for deciding on the eligibility for issue of carbon credits.
According to Mr Namboodiri, the campaign has at times, lagged because of the ignorance of consumers in the rural areas of the State.
“It takes some time before they can fully comprehend the benefits flowing from the switch-over to energy-efficient CFL bulbs,” he said.
The BLY envisages the replacement of an estimated 400 million incandescent light bulbs countrywide. CFL bulbs are made available at a subsidised price of Rs 15 each (against actual cost of around Rs 100).
This is expected to lead to prevention of at least 40 million tonnes of carbon from being spewed into the atmosphere annually.
The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) is facilitating the implementation of the programme through respective electricity distribution companies (Discoms) in the State, with assistance from CFL suppliers.
The KSEB has estimated that electricity demand that peaked to 54.9 MU before the introduction of CFL, has come down to 49 MU after its introduction. Total number of domestic consumers in the State as on August 31, 2009, was 75 lakh.
source-The Hindu Business Line
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