5 Years of UJALA and SLNP

Why in News

The Union government’s Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and LED Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), marked their fifth anniversary on 5th January 2020.

  • Both schemes have been spearheaded and implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.
  • These programmes have bagged global awards like the South Asia Procurement Innovation Award (SAPIA) 2017, CIO 100 award 2019, the Global Solid State Lighting (SSL) award of excellence.

Key Points

Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All

  • About
    • It was launched in 2015 with a target of replacing 77 crore incandescent lamps with LED bulbs and to nullify the high-cost of LEDs that acted as a barrier previously in the adoption of energy-efficient systems.
    • The scheme was implemented to set up a phase-wise LED distribution.
    • The objective is to promote efficient lighting, enhance awareness on using efficient equipment that will reduce electricity bills and preserve the environment.
    • It is the world’s largest domestic lighting project.
  • Achievements
    • Through the UJALA initiative, over 36.13 crore LED bulbs have been distributed across India. This has resulted in an estimated energy savings of 46.92 billion kWh per year, avoided peak demand of 9,394 MW, and an estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 38 million tons of CO2 annually.
    • The reduced electricity bills add to a household’s disposable income and lifetime savings, thus improving the quality of life, generating prosperity in local communities and in expanding energy access to all.
    • Apart from this, the Government of India initiated the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA) in 2018, which was aimed at the promotion of social harmony by appraising rural communities of various government welfare schemes and initiatives. As a part of it, villages with poor households were able to buy LED bulbs for a special price under UJALA programme.

Street Lighting National Programme

  • About
    • It was launched in 2015 and has been instrumental in replacing over 50 lakh street lights in over 500 cities in India.
    • Under the programme, EESL replaces the conventional street lights with LEDs at its own costs, with no upfront investment by the municipalities, thereby making their adoption even more attractive.
    • It is the world’s largest streetlight replacement programme.
  • Achievements
    • Under the SLNP programme, over 1.03 crore smart LED streetlights have been installed till date, enabling an estimated energy savings of 6.97 billion kWh per year with an avoided peak demand of 1,161 MW and an estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 4.80 million tons CO2 annually.
    • LED streetlights have been installed in various states across the country, helping generate approximately 13,000 jobs to support Make in India initiative.
    • It has enabled citizens to increase productivity at night and made roads safer for pedestrians and motorists due to enhanced brightness and reduced dark spots.
    • The power utilities of states where the installation of LEDs has been implemented save up to 50% in electricity bills.
    • By March 2020, SLNP aims to replace 1.34 crore conventional streetlights in India with smart LEDs.
      • This goal will make a huge difference by enabling peak demand reduction of about 1500 MW, annual energy savings of 9 billion kWh and reduction in 6.2 million tons of CO2 per year.

Source: PIB