Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : The Government of India’s Street Lighting National programme (SLNP) has illuminated 50,000 km of roads with installation of 30 lakh LED street lights across the country. With this milestone, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a government of India company under the administration of Ministry of Power, has become the world’s largest street light management company. The installation of 30 lakh LED street lights has resulted in 39 crore kWh of annual energy savings. It has also helped in reduction of 3.29 lakh tonnes of CO2 annually.
Under SLNP, Rajasthan is leading the country with an installation of 7.85 lakh LED street lights followed by Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat with 6.03 lakh and 5.4 lakh respectively. At present, Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) is retrofitting 15,000 conventional lights with LED street lights every day. The project is near completion in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Tripura and Gujarat. EESL is also implementing a special heritage lighting project in Kashi region of Uttar Pradesh where 4,000 lights are being installed, according to a PIB release. The programme has also recently commenced in the cities of Chandigarh and Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The procurement price of the LED Street Lights has been reduced from Rs 135/watt to Rs 80/watt due to mass procurement of the lights. EESL makes the entire upfront investment in installation of the street lights and no additional budget allocation from the Municipalities is required. Municipalities pay EESL from the savings in energy and maintenance cost over a 7-year period making the LED lights affordable and accessible, according to the PIB release.
EESL also undertakes social audits in ULBs where the project is under implementation and post the completion of the project. Few of the social audit results give a clear indication that the overall satisfaction level and the perception of safety among the citizens is extremely high from the newly installed LED street lights.