EESL to Install 1.6 Cr Smart LED Streetlights Pan India by 2024

State-owned Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) has joined hands with the Ministry of MSME to install additional 1.6 crore efficient and smart LED streetlights across the nation by 2024.

EESL’s Streetlight National Programme (SLNP) was primarily rolled out into municipalities / Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of the country with an objective to replace the conventional street with LED lights.

The programme has seen significant successes in recent years. The active participation and support of ULBs, manufacturers, financial institutions (FIs), service agencies, etc has been the hallmark of SLNP.

Since the first project in 2014 in Vizag (Andhra Pradesh), EESL has so far installed 1.2 crore LED streetlights across the country, resulting in around 7.8 BU of annual electricity saving and an annual reduction of 5.3 million tCO2. The further appetite gives an opportunity for the enhancement of LED street light technology.

In this context, EESL organised a stakeholder workshop to fine-tune the existing technical specifications of LED streetlights to make them future-ready with individual light control. The workshop was aimed at enhancing the LED streetlights, with state-of-the-art technology.  The workshop is yet another step towards ushering in a market transformation in India, by upgrading the specification of the streetlights to the best international standards. The dignitaries deliberated on the adoption of innovative technologies and discussed on the avenues for making public lighting smarter and digitalised.

Commenting on SLNP and the stakeholder workshop, Arun Kumar Mishra, Chief Executive Officer, EESL said, “The Street Lighting National Programme has been a catalyst of a large-scale socio-economic and ecological transformation. It has not only reduced emissions and enabled sustainable development, but has also transformed public lighting systems, across the country. However, much still needs to be done, and I firmly believe that the Street Lighting National Programme will revamp illumination and energy efficiency even more in the coming years. This workshop is aimed at reinventing this transformation, as we look to integrate innovative technologies into our streetlights.”

He further added that, “Globally, lighting gives humankind the opportunity to maximize their day, irrespective of time and weather.”

Also addressing the event, S. P. Garnaik, Business Head (Lighting), EESL, said, “Through our SLNP programme, we successfully installed 1.2 crore streetlights touching the length and breadth of the country. The same was achieved through large-scale planning, supply chain management and stakeholder satisfaction. The manufacturers and other stakeholders such as financial institutions have also played a pivotal role. At COP26, we showed that India’s energy intensity has reduced by 40%. EESL is now going to aggressively widen this programme by integrating best possible technical specifications. Herein, efficiency enhancement shall further avoid the capacity addition for power generation. We have a target of installing 1.6 crore streetlights in the next three years. This is an ambitious timeline and we are going to work towards achieving this through the learnings of the past and the challenges we mitigated.”