LED supply under Ujala touches 1 cr in K'taka

MANGALURU: Karnataka has crossed the coveted one crore mark in the distribution of LED bulbs under the UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) scheme, popularly known as 'Hosa Belaku' scheme, resulting in saving of Rs 1.75 crore per day of energy charges.
The scheme has led to daily energy saving of over 43.94 lakh kWh, which is capable of lighting over three lakh homes for a year.Apart form this, the state has also benefited from daily CO2 emission reduction of 3,560 tonnes.
Of the total sale of 1.23 crore LED bulbs, Bengaluru stands first in the state, with 40 lakh being sold there. This is followed by Mysuru with 13.74 lakh and Mangaluru with 13.39 lakh. Even Udupi, which joined the scheme late, has seen 2.55 lakh LED bulbs being sold to consumers. In Uttara Kannada, the distribution of LED bulbs is 66,437.
The national figure for LED distribution stands at 15.52 crore, which has resulted in energy saving of over 5.5 crore kWh per day. The cost saving per day is Rs 22.09 crore and has avoided a peak demand of 4,036 MW. The CO2 reduction per day is 44,737 tons.
While a consumer having 3kw and above load will get 10 LED bulbs, customers with less than that load will get five. Karnataka was the fastest state to distribute 50 lakh LED bulbs under the UJALA, according to Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public energy service company under the union ministry of power.
Mescom officials point out there were six lakh households in the district and about 30 lakh to 35 lakh bulbs needed to be replaced with LEDs. When all households adopt LEDs, it will give Mescom huge energy saving to the tune of 65% over incandescent light bulbs.