The Times of India          17.02.2014

Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation installs new lights to save energy

BHUBANESWAR: The process to replace power-guzzling traditional street lights with energy-efficient ones began on Saturday.

Once completed, the project promises to save Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) Rs 2 crore annually from its power bill.

BMC on Saturday installed 20 energy-efficient LED street lights, in the first phase, on the stretch between Sishu Bhawan Square and Capital Hospital Square.

The civic body claimed that this was the first-ever energy-efficient street lights installed on public-private partnership (PPP) mode in the country. A Mumbai-based private company, which has expertise in providing energy-efficient street lights, has taken up the installation.

"We have made a 10-year agreement with the private company, which will maintain the street lights from its own pockets. The plan is to install about 20,000 such street lights in phases," said BMC commissioner Sanjib Mishra. He said the civic body would have to pay Rs 300 per light point to the company.

"Annually, the civic body will be paying Rs 60 lakh for 20,000 lights," said Mishra.

The agreement with the company stipulates that 90 per cent of the revenue earned by saving the energy (cutting the electricity bills), will go to the private company, while BMC will get 10 per cent. "If the BMC saves Rs 100 a month by installing the energy-efficient street lights, the private agency will get Rs 90," said a BMC official. He said 80% of BMC's power bill would be saved by installing these lights.

The monitoring of the street lights will be done online. "There will be high-end technology to track the functioning of the street lights. We will find out about technical snags sitting at one place," said the official.

Timers will also be installed on lampposts so that the lights automatically switch off after 6am. Besides, after 10pm, the lights will get dimmer thanks to new technology. "The new technology will help check the illumination of the lights and improvise meter reading. There are around 9,000 individual drop (switch) points in the city," said an official.

BMC, which has been paying Rs 5 crore annually towards electricity consumption, will have to pay just Rs 3 crore after installation of the new street lights.