The Centre’s plan to replace conventional street lights with energy-efficient LED lamps in cities is gathering momentum, as six urban local bodies (ULBs), including Agartala and Vizag, have already completed the job.

Besides, as many as 90 municipalities have finalised agreements under the Street Light National Programme for replacement.

Current progress “The installation of LED bulbs is complete in 6 ULBs, namely Vizag, Jhalawar, Mount Abu, Pushkar, Neelimarna and Agartala. About 2,07,000 street lights have been replaced,” a senior official said.

The official added that installation was in progress in 88 ULBs in Delhi, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, to replace 9.3 lakh lights.

Scheme specifics As many as 302 ULBs had enrolled in the Street Light National Programme (SLNP) as on September 7, 2015 and the target is to install 15 lakh LEDs by March 2016.

Under the SLNP, replacement of 3.5 crore conventional street lights will lead to savings of 9,000 million units annually.

The total cost savings of municipalities every year will work out to ₹5,500 crore.

The Energy Efficiency Services (EESL) has been designated as the implementing agency, which replaces conventional street lights with LEDs at its own cost.

The consequent reduction in energy and maintenance cost of the municipality will be used to repay EESL over a period of time.

EESL’s contracts with municipalities are typically of a 7-year duration, in which it not only guarantees a minimum energy saving, but also provides free replacements and maintenance of lights at no additional costs to municipalities.

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