As part of a plans to reduce power consumption, the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) has taken a decision to switch to LED bulbs.
A decision was taken at a meeting held here recently. The officials said that the twin cities have around 49,879 street-lights, including tube-lights, sodium vapour lamps, metal halide lights and induction lamps. With the proposed scheme, all the conventional lighting system will be replaced with energy efficient lighting system.
Nearly 49,000 street-lamps are controlled at 1,463 points. “With timers, we can save more energy and the need for manpower to switch on and switch off street-lamps can be reduced,” the officials said and added that two agencies have come forward to replace conventional bulbs with LEDs and to fix timers.
Besides, the HDMC is mulling over installing automatic timers for electricity poles to save energy. The timers automatically glow when night falls and get switched off when sun rays fall on sensors, they said.
The government too had suggested that the HDMC ensure the company which bags tender for replacement of lighting system also took up maintenance of it for at least 10 years. HDMC is thinking of implementing a Centralised Command and Controlled Monitoring System (CCMS), under which functioning of LED lights can be monitored from a dedicated centre.
The estimated cost is Rs. 37 crore. With the implementation of LED lighting system, HDMC would save around Rs. 6 crore towards electricity bill per annum. At present, HDMC is spending Rs. 12 crore towards electricity bill. The agency would get 80 per cent of the saved amount. The agency would maintain the system for 10 years, they said.
