VIJAYAWADA: All the court buildings in Andhra Pradesh will be retrofitted with energy efficient appliances for saving power. There will not be any up front investment as the cost initially would be borne by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL). In a first-of-its-kind agreement, the High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad entered into an agreement with EESL on Friday. In the presence of Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) Chairman Justice G Bhavani Prasad, on behalf of Registrar General of High Court Ch Manavendranath Roy and Registrar (Administration) P Nagarjun signed the agreement.
From EESL’s side, its Managing Director Saurabh Kumar signed the agreement.The project is expected to result in an estimated annual monetary savings of `2.27 crore and result in energy savings of 2.5 million units in all the courts in 13 districts of the State. APERC Chairman Bhavani Prasad, during an interaction with officials on the occasion, was all praise for Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for his efforts to make AP a top State in energy conservation and efficiency in the country.
Citing the example of LED bulb and energy efficient appliances distribution in the State, Bhavani Prasad said that he is confident that AP, which has won many accolades of national and international repute, would also stand as a role model in the implementation of this project in the country.EESL MD Saurabh Kumar said that AP is extending the energy efficiency measures to rural areas as the State is all set to replace the street lights in villages with LED bulbs. This could revolutionise the economy of the Panchayats due to reduced energy bills and efficient working of the equipment, he said.
“EESL shall implement the project and offer maintenance and consultancy services for ten years for the project,” he added, while attributing credit for the materialisation of Rural LED street lighting project to Naidu and Panchayat Raj Minister Nara Lokesh. The project of retrofitting energy efficient appliances would be first implemented in all the court buildings of Visakhapatnam as a pilot project free of cost by EESL. The implementation would be extended to the other 12 districts in the State.
The High Court observed the energy efficient model of EESL to be viable as a major chunk of energy savings estimated. The date on which 98 per cent of the fittings are replaced will be considered effective and from that date, EESL shall provide maintenance and consultancy services for the fittings replaced.
According to the estimates given by EESL to the High Court, the LED bulbs, LED tube lights, star-rated fans and star-rated ACs that are to be fitted shall save 2.5 million units of energy and `2.27 crore in the form of electricity bill annually.
The EESL shall invest `6.89 crore to retrofit all the court buildings in the 12 districts of Andhra Pradesh, while the court buildings in Visakhapatnam district will be retrofitted free of cost by EESL as a pilot project. EESL shall take the responsibility of maintenance of the new equipment and also offer consultancy services. EESL will be repaid from the estimated energy and monetary savings quarterly for five years.