Piyush Goyal, Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy said that the center-point of any responsible government is the welfare and the future of the farmers. Shri Goyal said this while delivering valedictory address at the Ist National workshop on Agriculture Demand Side Management (AgDSM) being organized by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) here today. In his interaction with the Agricultural Pumps manufacturers and other stakeholders at the workshop , the Minister urged them to scale up production capacity with special focus on quality maintenance and competitive pricing. Shri Goyal stated that India will require 3 Crore energy efficient pumps in the next 3 and half years and so Agriculture Demand Side Management projects can be helpful in providing start-ups and employment opportunities to the people of the country.
Congratulating EESL on launching the initiative, Shri Goyal said that there is no doubt that this programme will be a success story for EESL in creating an energy efficient ecosystem for farmers. Piyush Goyal felicitated farmers of AgDSM projects in India and also released the tool kit for comprehensive implementation of AgDSM projects across the country on the occasion. The workshop aims to promote the implementation of AgDSM projects in the country for better energy efficiency. Principal Secretaries of various states, subject experts, representatives of distribution companies, Bankers, Pump manufacturer’s and several other policy makers attended the workshop.
BACKGROUND
The agriculture sector in India predominantly uses inefficient irrigation pump sets and therefore can provide significant savings by promoting BEE star rated and higher efficiency pump sets. Such Demand Side Management (DSM) interventions could lead to energy savings of 30 to 35 percent. Replacing an estimated 20.27 million pump sets used in agriculture sector with energy efficient pump sets would result in annual energy savings of 46 Billion kWh. This will also lead to GHG emission reduction of 45 m tonnes of CO2 annually. Keeping these facts in mind, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) has taken up a initiative of accelerating the implementation of AgDSM scheme in India. EESL successfully completed its first project for 590 number of pump sets in Byadi and Nippani circles under the Hubli Electricity Supply Company Limited (HESCOM), Karnataka. Further, the company has replaced 1337 number of pumps sets in Mandya District in Karnataka. At present, EESL is implementing an AgDSM project for 2496 number of pump sets in Rajanagaram Mandal in East Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. AgDSM project aims at providing free of cost BEE Star rated Energy Efficient Pump Sets to the farmers along with an electrical control panel. The new pump sets are provided with free repair and maintenance.