Energy efficient Light emitting diodes (LED) are to be made mandatory in the national off-grid solar programme, an expert working with the Indian government said.
“The energy efficiency benefits are tremendous but the combination of LED and solar will be more beneficial for public and private sector projects,” Economic Advisor to the New and Renewable Energy Ministry A.K. Tripathy said at the inauguration of the 15th LED Expo here.
“As part of the off-grid solar programme, we are working on making LED mandatory in solar lighting,” he said.
“The incandecant and CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lamp) era has ended and there is a wave of innovation LEDs are bringing in the industry. LED Expo is a great platform to see innovations, understand developments and integrate LED with solar,” he added.
More than 275 companies are taking part in the 15th LED Expo at the capital’s Pragati Maidan exposition venue.
The three-day exposition on LED lighting and technologies, organised by global trade fairs organisers Messe Frankfurt, has the participation of companies from 10 countries, including China, Finland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Britain, the organisers said in a statement.
Over 15 new products will be launched during the fair that is being supported, among others, by the Union Power and New and Renewable Energy Ministries as well as the Delhi government.
LEDs are emerging as the most energy-efficient source of lighting as they use one-tenth of the energy of a normal incandescent bulb, and half as much energy as a CFL to produce the same degree of light.
The Union Power Ministry had in 2014 launched a business model enabling the sale of LED bulbs to households at Rs 10 against the market price of Rs 400.
The Indian LED market is expected to cross $3 billion in terms of revenue by 2019.