‘Billions of power units can be conserved’

LEDs are highly energy saving

In an exclusive interview with Sumeet Sawhney, Vice President of Fijeeha, Mr AK Agarwal, Chairman & CEO, Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a government enterprise designed to harness energy conservation, outlines his vision

Mr AK Agarwal: Firmly focused

Humble, focused and passionate, Mr AK Agarwal is clear about the country’s compelling need for energy conservation. Donning two hats does not deter his resolve to do his best in his role as the Chairman & CEO of EESL, which is a joint venture of four Ministry of Power PSUs - NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation and Powergrid - to facilitate implementation of energy efficiency projects.

“It has been estimated that energy efficiency can result in energy savings to the tune of 75.36 billion units. This consists of 27.79 billion units in agriculture pumping, 1.98 billion units in commercial buildings/commercial establishments with connected load of more than 500 KW, 2.88 billion units in municipalities, 24.16 billion units in domestic sector and, 18.57 billion units in industry including SMEs,” Mr Agarwal informs.

But doing this is no easy task and who knows better than Mr Agarwal himself. “We are happy we have been getting some encouraging responses but all of us will have to come together to conserve energy,” he says, complimenting Fijeeha’s Future is Light campaign, aimed at promoting LED lights.

Mr Agarwal is upbeat about the good reviews he has been getting on the Mussoorie LED lights installation, funded by his parent company Power Finance Corporation. In collaboration with leading LED manufacturers Instapower, EESL has installed 500 LED street lights covering all the main streets of Mussoorie including The Mall Road, Camel's Back Road, Company Garden, King Craig, Barlowganj, Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy, Picture Palace, Landour, Jhadi Pani, Jhula Ghar, Kempty Fall route and Library.

“Lighting is an important source of energy spending and the Mussoorie project is aimed at initiating showcasing how public street lighting can be a major source of conservation. LEDs are proven to be highly energy efficient,” said Mr Agarwal.

Mr Agarwal points out that other than commercial and public lighting where LEDs will play a critical role, other area which shall drive the conservation efforts is the agriculture domain. Citing National Productivity Council, Mr Agarwal informs that agriculture pumping alone consumes about 92.33 Billion KWh out of which we have the conservation potential of 27.79 Billion KWh. The biggest guzzler of energy is the industries segment at 265 Billion KWh. Mr Agarwal informs we have potential to save about 18.57 Billion KWh, which is less as compared to the one in agriculture sector.

Mr Agarwal believes we shall have to collectively work towards creating a more careful and compassionate society and conserve energy.

Forum for Indian Journalists on Energy, Environment, Health & Agriculture is running a campaign on LED Lights and Power and Energy Conservation called Future is Light. Join the movement: log in to: www.fijeeha.in