January 20, 2015: All 0.5 million streetlights in Delhi will be replaced by LED lights within 1 year, saving over Rs 10 billion over a 7 year period. Piyush Goyal , union minister of state for power, coal and new and renewable energy, mentioned this while speaking at the occasion of signing of MoU between South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) and Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) for replacing 0.2 million customary streetlights in the SDMC area with energy efficient and smart LED lights at no direct capital cost to SDMC.
Taking inspiration from the prime minister Narendra Modi ’s statement on the nationwide launch of the LED lighting plan on 5th January, 2015 that at first 100 cities in India would be covered by LED lighting, Piyush Goyal declared that the countrywide rollout will be accomplished in 3 years. Within 4 days of the prime minister’s announcement, EESL and SDMC inked an agreement, he stated.
LED lights offer importantly high luminescence, for the similar wattage. For example, in Adchini Village, a 150W sodium lamp was replaced with a 70W LED luminaire and the luminescence bettered from 30 Lux to 312 Lux i.e. over 10 times! SDMC’s street lights at present eat 107 million units but the similar features of less wattage and higher luminescence, the energy used up can be attenuated by up to 70 per cent, thereby saving over Rs 5 billion in 7 years i.e. 3 times more than the Rs 1.75 billion required to install LEDs.
The refunds to EESL will be out of savings in energy and maintenance cost of SDMC over a 7 year contract period. EESL will also furnish free replacements and maintenance of lights at no added cost. Within just ten days of the LED street programme launch in Delhi on 25th December, 2015, street ights in three wards have been entirely replaced by LED at Naraina, Laxmi Nagar and Malviya Nagar areas.
In addition to this, as part of the pan India home lighting programme, national energy efficient lighting program for Delhi shall cover distribution of 10 million energy efficient bulbs (with 7 year warranty) which shall lead to an overall energy saving of 250 million units every year interpreting into a savings of over Rs 10 billion on a 7 year period.
Surveys conducted in Malviya Nagar, post installation of 1100 LED streetlights in place of customary lights disclosed huge satisfaction peculiarly for women (better security), small businessmen (increased lighting attracted more customers to their establishments), and the general public at large (sense of safety and lower propensity for road accidents).
