India is home to overt 27 million street lights. Currently, most street lights are CFL or sodium vapor variants. But there have been government programs to introduce LED lighting. That is set to change in the coming years with a keen interest in LED technology across all parts of the country. The use of LED street lighting can lead to a massive drop in power expenses and meet energy demands. But the implementation of LED lighting has its fair share of problems.
Power theft and power wastage are the two biggest problems that stand in the way of implementing LED street lighting. Currently, there are no measures taken to calculate the amount of electricity that is consumed by each street light. There are no measures to calculate power usage per phase in an area either. IoT and analytics need to be implemented to alleviate the problems of power being siphoned using illegal methods by citizens.
Power wastage is also a problem in the country. There are no proper measures to control street lights that are sometimes left on during the day. This leads to an unnecessary amount of power wastage. Yet again, proper analytics tools can be implemented to alleviate the problems. If the right measures are taken, Indian smart cities with LED street lighting can be a cost-efficient affair.
