The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Energy-efficient pumpsets planned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jan 05, 2008
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Energy-efficient pumpsets planned

B. S. Satish Kumar

It envisages saving 30 p.c. energy

Financial savings likely to be Rs. 750 crore a year
Proposals from manufacturers called for

BANGALORE: The State is planning to embark upon a mega energy conservation scheme of replacing the 16 lakh irrigation pumpsets with energy efficient pumps.

The scheme said to be the first of its kind in the country envisages conservation of nearly 30 per cent energy consumed by the irrigation pumpsets.

This is expected to translate into financial savings of Rs. 550 crore to Rs. 750 crore a year. At present, the pumpsets account for 27 per cent to 30 per cent of the State’s power consumption.

The electricity supply companies are drawing up an innovative plan to implement the scheme as they are trying to showcase this mega energy conservation drive for claiming carbon credits. They have called for proposals from manufacturers of energy efficient pumpsets.

Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL) Managing Director Bharatlal Meena, who is the chairman of the five electricity supply companies, told The Hindu that the details regarding the energy conservation scheme would be known only after proposals from pumpset manufacturing companies are received. “They (manufacturing) have to give us a proposal on the methods of implementation, including the cost factor,” he said.

He said the manufacturing companies have to replace the old pumpsets with the energy efficient ones. The farmers would not have to pay for the new pumpsets. The companies are allowed to claim the benefits of carbon credits as the project would result in energy conservation. Besides, the electricity supply companies are examining if they could share a part of the savings accrued from the energy conservation project with companies implementing the scheme.

According to Mr. Bharatlal Meena, it should be possible to recover the project cost in about three years.

Irrigation pumpsets constitute an important segment of revenue loss suffered by the electricity supply companies. The pumpsets have been prescribed a tariff of 54 paise per unit as against the average price of Rs. 3.80. But the revenue recovery from irrigation pumpsets is less than 10 per cent, sources said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka