鞍馬勞困

Energy majors to enter LED manufacturing

Anil Sasi

New Delhi, Oct. 3

The entry of big-ticket players in LED manufacturing, led by public sector energy majors ONGC Ltd and NTPC Ltd, promises to help the technology breach the price barrier by rapid scaling-up of production.

LED or light-emitting diode technology is widely seen as the future of lighting technology. But high pricing is a key deterrent. An LED lamp is a solid state lighting device that utilises light emitting diodes as a source of illumination instead of electrical filaments or gas.

ONGC's Energy Centre is pursuing the LED project as an energy conservation project and is in the process of finalising a joint venture partner for assembling and packaging of LED luminaries in India. NTPC Ltd, which had tied-up with the Bangalore-based Society for Integrated Circuit Technology and Applied Research for making the lamps, is also on the lookout for a suitable partner.

Other entrants who have already commenced work include Sujana Energy Ltd, a subsidiary of Hyderabad-based Sujana Group, which is partnering Japanese firm Nichia Corporation for LED lighting and display; De Core Nanosemiconductors Ltd is investing Rs 900 crore in a plant in Gujarat for LED luminaries.

“There is no doubt that the entry of large players offers the potential to scale-up, which is the only way to bring down costs. So, therefore, NTPC and ONGC's entry is important for the technology as a whole… LED lamps offer the best hope for the rural electrification efforts, especially in case of off-grid connections,” the Director-General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, Dr Ajay Mathur, told Business Line.

NTPC, which had appointed IIT-Kharagpur as its consultant to identify a foreign technical collaborator for manufacturing LED lamps, is looking at various options. “The move to get into LED manufacture is aimed at strengthening the ongoing demand-side management efforts, especially in the households segment. While the initial responses were not very good, we hope to zero in on a suitable partner,” an NTPC official said.

The ONGC Energy Centre, through a joint venture, plans to set up an assembly plant in India to manufacture LED luminaries. In the second phase, it plans to establish an LED packaging plant. As the final leg in its three-stage LED plan, the Energy Centre is hoping that the research work would lead into possible high technology products, including setting up a semiconductor chip plant that could have significant contribution to exports.

Sujana Energy Ltd, through its partnership with Japanese company Nichia Corporation, plans to jointly explore opportunities in the field of LED lighting and display. Nichia is the largest supplier of white LEDs in the world.

“The demand for LEDs is almost limitless worldwide. Although competition is extremely high in the Indian market, I believe that this collaboration between Sujana and Nichia will be a breakthrough for expanding LED lighting and display,” said Mr Makoto Takenaka, MD of Nichia Chemical Pte Ltd, said while launching the venture.

LEDs, besides being small, hardy, highly energy-efficient and long-lasting, do not have the mercury content issue associated with CFLs.

While LED lamps, till recently, were limited only to single-bulb use in applications such as instrument panels and electronics, subsequent improvements in technology have widened their application. Several cities in the country have begun replacing their incandescent traffic lights with LED arrays because electricity costs can be reduced by almost 80 per cent.