Under the Energy Efficiency Technology Scheme, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) recently announced 80 per cent grants in 10 clusters in India for the automation of various sectors identified. The unit owners will have to bear remaining cost. The Ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) will collaborate in the project.
The project under the ‘promoting market transformation for energy efficiency in MSME’ scheme will be supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), according to a report. A meeting of the 10 different clusters, which include Ankleshwar, Vellore, Jalandhar, Bengaluru, Assam, Muzzafarnagar, Ludhinia and Surat—was organised recently in Surat to discuss financial issues and setting up of the revolving fund for the project.
The project, being implemented by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a company under the Indian Power Ministry, was first conceptualised in Surat with the support from the South Gujarat Textile Processors Association (SGTPA). It aimed to replace traditional technology with updated technology for energy saving in the two textile dyeing and printing mills.
UNIDO officials said that entrepreneurs including rice, chemical, paper, tea among many other industries from these clusters were invited to witness energy efficient machinery automation undertaken in the textile processing units by using the programmable logic controller (PLC) for the drum washer machine and the jet dyeing machine for saving energy.
