By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, MAY 07, 2020:  MR R.K.Singh, the Union Minister of State (IC), Power and New & Renewable Energy & Minister of State, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship , today released a Report on "Impact of energy efficiency measures for the year 2018-19" through Video conference. While unveiling the e-book Mr Singh said, "we have pledged in COP-21 that we will bring down energy intensity of economy by 33 to 35% compared to 2005 levels by 2030. Now, with our energy efficiency initiatives we have already reduced the energy intensity of our economy by 20% compared to 2005 levels which is a very good performance indeed."

This report was prepared by an Expert agency PWC Ltd, who was engaged by Bureau of Energy efficiency (BEE) for an independent verification to assess the resultant annual savings in energy as well as CO 2 emissions through various initiatives in India. The findings of the report reflect that implementation of various energy efficiency schemes have led to total electricity savings to the tune of 113.16 Billion Units in 2018-19, which is 9.39% of the net electricity consumption. Energy savings (electrical + thermal), achieved in the energy consuming sectors (i.e. Demand Side sectors) is to the tune of 16.54 Mtoe, which is 2.84% of the net total energy consumption (approx..581.60 Mtoe) in 2018-19.

The total energy savings achieved in 2018-19 is 23.73 Mtoe (million Tonne of Oil Equivalent), which is 2.69% of the total primary energy supply (estimated to be 879.23 Mtoe in India) during 2018-19. This includes both Supply Side and Demand Side sectors of the economy. Overall, this study has estimated that various energy efficiency measures have translated into savings worth INR 89,122 crores (approximately)against last year's (2017-18) savings of INR 53,627 crore. These efforts have also contributed in reducing 151.74 Million Tonnes of CO2 emissions, whereas last year this number was 108 MTCO2.

Since 2017-18, every year Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) appoints an third party expert agency to conduct study for comparing the actual energy consumption due to different energy efficiency schemes, with the estimated energy consumption, had the current energy efficiency measures were not undertaken i.e. counterfactual. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance and impact of all the key energy efficiency programmes in India, in terms of total energy saved and the related reduction in the CO2 emissions. The study assesses the resultant impact of current schemes at national as well as state level for the FY 2018-19 and compares it with a situation where the same were not implemented.

This year the study has identified following major programmes, viz. Perform, Achieve and Trade Scheme, Standards &Labelling Programme, UJALA Programme, Municipal Demand Side Management Programme, etc.

While concluding the event Mr Singh pointed out that the energy efficiency has dual benefit as it not only saves money but also saves environment. He said that there is huge capacity still for bringing  efficiencies especially in MSME ( Micro Small and Medium Enterprise) sector and Housing sector that have now been taken up. He also praised the BEE( Bureau of Energy Efficiency) for its initiatives to bring energy efficiency in our economy.