As part of the government’s mission to phase out inefficient thermal power plants in India, NTPC has already given the in-principle clearance to replace around 11,000 MW of its old, inefficient thermal power plants.
The plants would be replaced in about five years, with an investment of around Rs. 50,000 crores, said Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy and Mines.
The Power Ministry is in talks with the Environment Ministry for clearances. He also urged the State Governments to work in Mission-mode to modernize old thermal power plants which are older than 25 years with new super critical technology.
There are over 16,000 households in about 800 inaccessible villages in India which lack grid connectivity. The Ministry would be providing, to each such household, a 300 KW Solar panel, 8-hour battery backup, 5 LED bulbs, an energy efficient ceiling fan and a solar power based mobile phone charging socket, all free of cost under the Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY).
Further, all the companies under the Ministry of Power, under their CSR initiatives, would be providing a solar power based television set to these households. Through this initiative, the Minister added, the children who were deprived of electricity for years would get a chance to integrate with the global community.
Under UJALA LED scheme, over 18.38 crore LED bulbs have been distributed by EESL and another 25 crore by private sector companies. This drive has resulted in the reduction of LED bulb prices of around 88 percent in LED prices in just 20 months, which led to an annual saving of around Rs. 10,000 crores for the consumers. The savings would scale up to Rs. 40,000 crores in the next 3 years.
The Minister also added that Gujarat has become the first state in the country to replace all street lights with LED bulbs and this has been achieved with zero investment by the State in the scheme as the financial savings are so huge. Further, he said that India is in talks with the neighboring countries to take the LED program to them and become a leader in the Energy Efficiency Mission.
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