Rajasthan became the first state to adopt Centre’s Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) in all its urban local bodies (ULB) by replacing almost 5 lakh conventional streetlights with LED streetlights across the state. The project was funded by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public energy services company under the administration of Union ministry of power at no cost to the state.
According to Saurabh Kumar, managing director, EESL, Rajasthan’s Udaipur and Ajmer lead the way to energy-efficiency. EESL has replaced over 35,000 conventional streetlights in Udaipur, with an investment of over Rs. 25 crore which has resulted in reduction of peak load by 1,400 kWh, making them 51% more energy-efficient. This replacement has induced energy savings of 6.36 million units per annum besides, bringing monetary savings to the municipality of over Rs. 4.4 crore.
Ajmer got replaced over 33,000 lamps, with an investment of over Rs. 14 crore by EESL. The project here has benefited Ajmer with reduction in peak load of 58% which translates to over 4.6 million units of energy saved per annum and over 3.7 crore in monetary savings to the municipal corporation.
Over all, the daily cost saving to the municipality is Rs. 60 lakh. This is apart from the savings of 152 million units of electricity plus reduction of 225 tonn of CO2 per day, according to the state government. SLNP was launched on January 5, 2015, as part of which 3.5 crore conventional streetlights will be replaced with smart and energy efficient LED street lights by March 2019.
