RK Singh inaugurates India’s first public EV charging station developed by EESL, NDMC

New Delhi: With a focus on enhancing energy efficiency and promoting e-mobility, Union Minister for Power, New & Renewable Energy RK Singh inaugurated India's first public EV (Electric Vehicles) charging plaza on Monday at Chelmsford Club in New Delhi. While inaugurating, Singh said, "The EV charging plaza is a new avenue for making e-mobility ubiquitous and convenient in India. Such innovative initiatives are imperative for the creation of a robust e-mobility ecosystem in the country. My congratulations to both EESL and NDMC."

Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of NTPC, PFC, REC and POWERGRID, is spearheading the EV ecosystem development in India by undertaking demand aggregation for procuring EVs and identifying innovative business models for implementation of public charging station (PCS). EESL in collaboration with NDMC has established India's first-of-its-kind public EV charging station in central Delhi. This charging station will host five electric vehicle chargers of different specifications.

Speaking on the inauguration of public EVs charging station, Ministry of Power's Secretary Sanjiv Nandan Sahai said, "The charging plaza, with its compatibility with a wide range of electric vehicles will greatly spur e-mobility adoption. This would make EV charging hassle-free and convenient for the consumers, thereby making e-mobility adoption an attractive proposition."

Singh also launched "Retrofit of Air-conditioning to improve Indoor Air Quality for Safety and Efficiency" (RAISE) national programme. At the launch, Singh stated, "I believe the RAISE initiative can potentially alleviate the issue of bad air quality in workspaces across the nation and pioneer ways to make them healthier and greener. I look forward to the success of their programme and wish both EESL and USAID best of luck for their future endeavours."

Poor air quality has been a concern in India for quite some time and has become more important in light of the COVID pandemic. As people return to their offices and public spaces, maintaining good indoor air quality is essential for occupant comfort, well-being, productivity and the overall public health.

In that context, EESL has undertaken a retrofit of its office air-conditioning and ventilation system. This is part of the larger initiative to "Retrofit of Air-conditioning to improve Indoor air quality for Safety and Efficiency" developed for healthy and energy-efficient buildings, in partnership with US Agency for International Development's (USAID) MAITREE programme. EESL's corporate office in Scope Complex has been taken up as a pilot for this initiative. The pilot focuses on improving indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal comfort, and energy efficiency (EE) in the EESL office's air conditioning system.

According to EESL, this pilot project has shown very impressive results – about 80 percent improvement in air quality parameters with almost no implementation hassles. Considering employee's occupational health and safety is paramount in any workplace amidst the COVID-19 scenario, EESL is keen to provide such solutions across the country with standardisation and demand aggregation approach.

Both the initiatives reaffirm the pledge for ecological preservation and building a resilient energy sector, undertaken by EESL and other key stakeholders during the "#iCommit" campaign held on World Environment Day.

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