CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) will complete the conversion of all sodium vapour lamps in the city (including added areas) into LED lamps by the end of this year, confirmed a senior official from the Electrical Department of GCC. This move will save the government nearly `2 crore, per month.
“Of the 2,77,000 street lights in the city, 1,85,000 have been converted to LED. Also, in most of the places, the old fittings and poles are replaced by Galvanised Iron poles. In the rest of the areas, conversion is happening in full swing and 30 per cent of the work has been completed,” said the official.
The lights at Mount Road, Poonamalle Road, the stretch between Secretariat and Airport have been converted. However, in areas where the Chennai Metro work is being carried out, the conversion will not happen now. Rest of the interior roads are expected to get a revamp by December 30.
In an attempt to make the city more energy-efficient, the Corporation in 2012 announced that nearly 1.05 lakh sodium vapour lamps across the city would be replaced with LED lights.
Officials said following this, the added areas demanded infrastructure and they had to install about 50,000 lights in those areas. Following this and the addition of lights in remote corners of the city, the number of lights rose to 2,77,000.
The conversion work began in 2015 and the then government spent `5.6 crore per month for electricity. Following the conversion of 60 per cent of the lights, their expenditure reduced by `1.5 crore. The department is expecting to save at least `2 core once all the lights are converted.
LEDs are 50 per cent more efficient than sodium lamps and have a life span of more than 50,000 hours. LED lights have essentially no maintenance cost and must be changed rarely with infrequent monitoring. High Pressure Sodium lights have a high maintenance cost because they require monitoring and more frequent replacement of both bulb and parts.