The country-wide roll-out of the ambitious compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) replacement scheme is set to pick up pace, with the proposal getting registered under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol as the world's largest carbon credit project.

Nearly 14 lakh CFL bulbs have already been distributed, including about four lakh bulbs in Yamunanagar in Haryana, 3.5 lakhs in Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and 4 lakh in the Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh.

The scheme, spearheaded by the Power Ministry's Bureau of Energy Efficiency, is set to be deployed across other States, with Kerala initiating a CFL scheme and Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka evincing interest.

The CDM registration would see more CFL manufacturers and investors entering the fray. Designed as a public-private partnership between the Centre, private CFL suppliers and State electricity distribution utilities, the Bachat Lamp Yojana (BLY) aims at a potential reduction of over 6,000 MW in electricity demand.

Under the scheme, 60- and 100- Watt domestic incandescent bulbs will be replaced by 11-25-Watt CFLs. The current penetration of CFL in the household sector remains low at under 10 per cent, largely due to the high price of CFLs, which are about 8-10 times costlier than incandescent bulb.

Domestic appliances and lighting accounts for almost 22 per cent of the total electricity demand, contributing almost entirely to the peak load. There are over 400 million light points in India using incandescent bulbs.

Under the programme, CFL suppliers would sell lamps to households at Rs 15 a piece (as against Rs 100 otherwise) and register it as a CDM project. The balance cost of the CFL will be recovered from the sale of carbon credits that accrue from the resultant lower CO2 emissions.

The BEE has prepared a Small-Scale Programme of Activities (PoA) for availing itself of such credits.

"This is the largest PoA in terms of carbon dioxide emission reductions to be ever registered by the CDM Executive Board. This will reduce the transaction cost as the umbrella project registration will allow smaller projects to be included without going through the entire process of due diligence, enabling private investors to get CDM revenues in an expeditious manner," a Power Ministry official said.

The replacement potential of incandescent lamps with CFLs is also borne out of the fact that in 2008, ICL sales in India were 734 million whereas CFL sales were just 199 million.