Light Without Pollution

UJALA is Lighting Up Homes, Empowering Lives Distributed over 36 crore LED bulbs, over 72 lakh Tubelights and over 23lakh Fans – Ministry of Power

UJALA [Unnat Jyoti by Affordable Light Emitting Diode (LED) for All] was launched on January 05, 2015, to provide energy-efficient LED bulbs to domestic consumers at an affordable price.

In a short span, the programme has evolved to be the world’s largest zero-subsidy domestic lighting programme that addresses concerns like high electrification costs and high emissions that result from inefficient lighting.

UJALA scheme aims to promote efficient use of energy at the residential level; enhance the awareness of consumers about the efficacy of using energy-efficient appliances and aggregate demand to reduce the high initial costs thus facilitating higher uptake of LED lights by residential users.

UJALA has been readily adopted by all the states. It has helped in reducing annual household electricity bills. Consumers have been able to save money, improve their quality of life, and contribute to India’s economic growth and prosperity. Under the programme, the government has ensured transparency and encouraged competition by e-procurement of goods and services. This has resulted in a significant reduction in transaction cost and time, enhancing process efficiency.

The UJALA scheme has also contributed to significant environmental benefits by reducing the carbon footprint of the country. The scheme has achieved the following outcomes:

• Cost saving per year: 19,334 crores

• Avoided peak demand: 9789 MW

• CO2 Reduction per year: 3,92,22,275 tonnes

Objectives of the UJALA Scheme

The primary goal is to encourage efficient lighting and raise knowledge about using efficient equipment, which decreases electricity bills and aids in environmental preservation.

• To build up a phased distribution of LEDs throughout the country.

•. To raise widespread public knowledge about the necessity of energy efficiency.

• To promote energy efficiency at the domestic level throughout India.

• To spread the message about how energy efficiency affects environmental preservation in the long run.

Features of the UJALA Scheme

• The Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of Public Sector Undertakings under the Ministry of Power, is implementing the UJALA Scheme.

• It is the world’s largest household lighting project.

• It was first known as the DELP (Domestic Efficient Lighting Program) but was later renamed UJALA.

• Ujala scheme implemented by the Ministry of Power.

• The UJALA plan is based on a ‘demand aggregation-price crash model,’ which entails exploiting economies of scale to reduce prices.

• Under the UJALA initiative, the government provides two payment alternatives for purchasing LED bulbs.

• Under this scheme, every grid-connected user with a metered connection from their individual Electricity Distribution Company can obtain LED bulbs for around 40% of the market price.

• The initiative is being implemented by the Electricity Distribution Company and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public sector organisation of the Government of India.

Benefits of UJALA Scheme

• Each household can acquire LEDs for just Rs 10 each, provided they exchange functional old incandescent lamps.

• Each rural household can receive up to 5 LEDs.

• Additionally, meters will be installed in these households to monitor their energy usage.

• The transition to LEDs in all 300 million Indian lights could result in substantial benefits: energy savings of 40,743 million kWh/year, avoidance of peak demand by 22,743 MW/year, and a reduction of 37 million tons of CO2 emissions annually, contributing positively to climate change action in India.

Some of the initiatives under the UJALA scheme are listed below.

Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP)

• On January 5, 2015, the Hon’ble Prime Minister inaugurated the Street Lighting National Program (SLNP) to replace traditional street lights with smart, energy-efficient LED street lights across India.

• EESL replaces traditional street lights with LEDs at its own expense (without requiring towns to contribute). The resulting decrease in energy and maintenance expenses reimburses EESL over time.

• EESL typically engages in contracts with towns for seven years. During this time, it not only promises a minimum energy saving (often 50 percent) but also offers free replacements and maintenance of lights at no additional expense to the municipality.

GRAM UJALA scheme

• The government launched the GRAM UJALA scheme for rural households in March 2021 to distribute LED bulbs at a reasonable Rs. 10 per bulb.

• Under this scheme, rural consumers who submit working incandescent bulbs will be awarded 7-watt and 12-watt LED lights with a three-year warranty.

• Convergence Energy Services Ltd. (CESL), a state-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. subsidiary, will distribute these bulbs.

• To match India’s climate change action, the government proposes distributing 1 crore 50 lakh LED bulbs in phase-I of the GRAM UJALA, resulting in significant energy savings of 2025 million kWh/year and CO2 reductions of 1.65 million tonnes CO2/year.

• The scheme has touched 6,150 people in Arrah, Bihar, within two days of its launch.

Why Choose LED Bulbs Over Incandescent Bulbs?

LEDs are vastly superior to incandescent lamps for the following reasons:

• An incandescent bulb has about 1,200 hours, whereas LEDs have a far longer lifespan of 50,000-1,000,000.

• LEDs use around 75% less energy than incandescent lights.

• LEDs run at substantially lower temperatures than super-heated incandescent bulbs because they convert energy into light. In contrast, incandescent lights turn heat into light.