Core CarbonX Solutions Pvt Ltd, a company based in Hyderabad, Telangana, plans to give away at least 2 million cookstoves to rural folk in Odisha for free. In return, the company will earn 2-4 carbon credits (depending upon the type of the stove) for each stove annually, for enabling lesser use of firewood.

Each carbon credit sells in the market for about $8-10, Managing Director, Niroj Mohanty, told businessline on Tuesday, on the sidelines of a workshop on ‘Deep Electrification Pathways’, organised here by the Delhi-based think-tank, Vasudha Foundation. 

Vida Carbon of Canada is partnering Core CarbonX in this venture. Core CarbonX buys energy-efficient stoves in the market for about Rs 1,200-Rs 1,600 and distributes them. 

The company began distribution cookstoves last year, when it gave away 60,000 stoves in India and another 30,000 in Myanmar, earning $11 million (as commitment). 

Listen: Podcast | All you need to know about carbon credits

This model, in which companies like Core CarbonX acquire and sell carbon credits, is taking root in India, and the companies are called carbon credit developers.

Another company, the BSE-listed EKI Energy Services, through its associate company, has set up a plant at Nashik, capable of manufacturing 3 million cookstoves a year.

It is believed that the cookstoves distributed by these companies can bring down firewood consumption by at least 40 per cent. 

Also read: Carbon credits could boom in the age of net zero

Urban versus rural 

The workshop had an interesting discussion on the kind of cookstove solution that would work in urban and rural areas. Animesh Mishraa, Head – Sales, Corporate Communications and PR, EESL Ltd, said while electric cooking, solarised or otherwise, would be okay for the urban consumer, it would not work in the rural areas, where fuel – firewood or cow dung – is available practically for free. The model that India should follow, therefore, would be to promote electric induction stoves in urban centers and improved cookstoves in the rural areas. 

EESL Ltd is a government company that provides energy-efficient equipment at its own cost and collects the same from consumers over a period, from savings in their energy bills. It recently floated an Expression of Interest for induction cookstoves. The response has been very good, with about 70 submissions, Mishraa said.  

Also read: Decoding caveats in carbon trading policy

EESL began its innings in 2015, when it started replacing incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs at its own cost and recovering the same from savings in consumers’ electricity bills. It has so far distributed 39 crore (390 million) bulbs, which has reduced the electricity demand from that segment to which the utilities were giving free or subsidised power, he said. Alongside, by aggregating demand and placing bulk orders on LED bulb manufacturers, EESL was able to bring down the cost of a bulbs from around Rs 380 in 2015 to about Rs 60 today. The company expects to do an encore with induction stoves. 

 

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