11th Plan puts stress on energy conservation

ENERGY CONSERVATION is going to get a special attention under the 11th Five Year Plan beginning from 2007. The Union Ministry of Power has sanctioned a Rs- 652 crore budget to be spent on implementation of energy-saving schemes during the Plan.

ENERGY CONSERVATION is going to get a special attention under the 11th Five Year Plan beginning from 2007. The Union Ministry of Power has sanctioned a Rs- 652 crore budget to be spent on implementation of energy-saving schemes during the Plan.

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With the slogan ‘one unit of electricity saved is two units of electricity generated’ keeping in mind, the ministry aims to save 11000 mw electricity during the next five years. This will be 11 per cent of the total 1,00000 mw electricity being generated in the country.

As per the budgetary allocation made by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) at a meeting presided over by BEE director general, Ajay Mathur last month, the Rs- 652 crore would be spent by the BEE itself and the State- Designated Agencies (SDAs) on carrying out energy-saving programmes in the targeted sectors. The targeted sectors include industries, commercial buildings and establishments, domestic or residential buildings, street lights and water pumps, agriculture, and transport. Out of the total budget sanctioned, Rs 15 crore will be spent on the demand side management and Rs 110.4 crore on the HRD.

Nodal officer and senior UPPCL official Shailendra Dubey, who attended the meeting in Delhi last month, said the provisions of the Energy Conservation Act would become mandatory from March 1, next year. “This will force the targeted sectors including the power houses to go for energy audit and energy saving, failing which they will face penal action,” Dubey said. He said the UP Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (UPRVUNL) had already subjected five of its powerhouses to the energy audit.