Areas under Ghaziabad authority to get LED streetlights within a month

The authority inks MoU with public sector undertaking to replace 8,000 streetlights with LED bulbs

The Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a joint venture firm of central public sector undertaking under Ministry of Power for replacing 8,000 existing streetlights with LED lights. The project is expected to get completed within a month.

GDA vice-chairperson Ritu Maheshwari signs the MoU with the public sector undertaking of the Union power ministry on Friday. (Sakib Ali/HT)

Officials said that 5,000 streetlights will be replaced in Indirapuram residential locality and the rest across housing schemes of Indraprastha, Tulsi Niketan, Koyal Enclave, Swarn Jayanti Puram, Madhuban Bapudham and Raj Nagar Extension.

The MoU was signed with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which will replace the old lights and also provide five-year maintenance before handing over the lights to the authority.

“A total investment of Rs8.13 crore is being made for the project and the cost, which includes the maintenance charges, will be borne by GDA. The process will ensure better lighting and will immensely help reduce the electricity bills and maintenance cost,” Ritu Maheshwari, vice-chairperson, GDA, said.

Officials of EESL said that once LED lights are installed, the electricity consumption will be reduced to 0.63 megawatts from 1.65 megawatts.

Under the CCMS, streetlights can be monitored with the help of mobile phones and laptops from remote locations. Also, lights can be turned on or off depending on the light and weather conditions. Energy savings can also be monitored real time through a dashboard.

Read I Ghaziabad authority to replace 9,000 old streetlights with LED lights

Officials said that a set of nearly 20-40 LED lights will be assigned one switch, which will be connected to the dashboard and this will also help in locating faults. The communication of the switch with the centralised dashboard will be through non-voice based SIM cards.

GDA officials said that the replacement, after reaching the break-even point, will help GDA save nearly Rs3 crore annually on electricity bills.

The replacement, according to Kumar, will be completed within one month instead of three months, as stated previously. He added that GDA will be able to achieve a break-even point of its investment within a period of four years, after which the energy savings will translate to cost savings.

Besides the GDA, the Ghaziabad municipal corporation is also in the process of replacing 60,000 streetlights with LED lights in areas under its jurisdiction.