Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL), a joint venture of four public sector enterprises under the Ministry of Power, has begun selling super-efficient air conditioners online priced at Rs 41,300 for a 1.5-tonne unit. The firm also claims that the inverter split ACs on offer have an energy efficiency rating of 5.4, making them 20 per cent more efficient than existing BEE 5-star rated ACs and 50 per cent more efficient than 3-star counterparts.
“India needs cooling that is much more sustainable and affordable than the options currently available in the market. We plan to deploy 50,000 ACs and save 145.5 million kWh or 120 crores per annum of electricity per year mitigating around 1.2 lakh tonne CO2 annually,” said Saurabh Kumar, managing director at EESL. The savings for the consumer over a year would be about 300 units or Rs 2,400 on an average.
Voltas was the lowest price bidder for the project, followed by Godrej, which quoted Rs 43,000 and Daikin at Rs 46,000. “The orders for the 50,000 ACs may be placed with all three bidders provided they agree to match the lowest bid. The price of these ACs are priced 30 per cent less than the retail prices of BEE 5-Star ACs,” Kumar said, adding that a pan-India expansion of this programme will be carried out by EESL in a bid to extend the benefits of energy efficiency to every household in the country.
The project, he pointed out, will entail an investment of nearly Rs 190 crore and will be partially supported by a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Additionally, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing necessary grant support and loans, with United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) providing technical assistance, noted SP Garnik, CGM (Technical), EESL.
Peak hour electricity demand in Indian cities is touching new highs. On the afternoon of July 1, New Delhi broke its own record, set last year, after peak demand rose to 7,241 megawatts. “Most of the new load in urban areas is due to the installation of air cooling systems. ESL’s programme aims to help reduce the peak power demand in South and West Delhi by 22 MW,” he said.
In the past, EESL has disrupted the market LED bulbs. Over the last five years, EESL has come up with several large tenders for LED bulbs. It has distributed over 353 million units, leading to energy savings of over 45,867 KWh and reduction in electricity bills to the tune of Rs 18,347 crore.
This has also resulted in a steep fall in prices of LED bulbs with a unit costing less than Rs 50 today, it said. EESL added that once the pilot programme of 50,000 super-efficient ACs is completed, it will launch a national programme from the next season. The company aims to deploy around 2 lakh such ACs over the next year.