At a time when a majority of public offices are not even considering LED lighting as an option for power conservation, the Central Power Distribution Company has led the way by making a whole substation LED-lit.
The Hussainsagar substation which houses 132/33 KV as well as a 33/11 KV facilities in single premises, is now totally lit by the Light Emitting Diodes which consume very little power and last much longer than the ordinary incandescent bulbs.
The substation now has 36 LED panels of different wattages illuminating various focal points, as against the 15 incandescent lamps earlier scattered through the premises. While the incandescent lamps were of 150-watt, 250-watt and 400-watt power requirement, the same for the LED panels installed ranges between 56 watts and 150 watts. However, the initiative cost the company about Rs.7-lakh!
“We wanted to take it up as a pilot project to see how much power we can save. We have chosen Hussainsagar substation because it offered scope for experimentation by its sheer size. The consultant was allowed to calculate the requirement of lumens at each strategic point, as the substation staff would need to fix snags at various elevations even in the middle of night,” informed the Chief General Manager of the CPDCL Metro Zone, A.G. Satish Kumar.
Through this initiative, the CPDCL has not only saved on the power bills, but also added brightness to the substation which earlier had nearly 20 defunct fixtures. The illumination has increased by 100 percent after the LED fixtures were installed, Mr. Satish Kumar informed.
On the conservation front, the substation now consumes 45 units of power on an average day instead of the earlier 65 units, translating into 20 units of savings per day, and 600 units per month, he said. Calculated in terms of parity of illumination, the units saved will be double the actuals, he asserted. Further, life of a standard LED is 50,000 hours, while that of the ordinary bulb is only around 1,200 hours.
