The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in India intends to roll out a massive streetlight replacement project ahead of the annual holiday Ugadi, which takes place on March 29 this year, reported The Hans India.

A total of 413,029 high-pressure sodium vapor (HPSV) streetlights will be replaced with LEDs before March throughout the capital of Southern India’s Telangana state. The citywide streetlight upgrade initiative will save GHMC nearly INR 1 billion (US $ 1.47 million) per year.

The city will be conducting a thorough study in the next 15 days ahead of the initiation of the LED project. Officials noted the streetlights will have different capacities including 20W, 50W, 70W and 120W to be installed, depending on the width of the road.

Conventional sodium vapor streetlights installed in the city consumes 60 MW of power annually, and city officials spent nearly INR 1.9 billion to maintain the lights.

Separated into different streetlight categories 150W HPSV lights took the majority of 207,793 installations, 250W HPSV ranked second with 73,215, other luminaire types included 250W metal halide lamps (16,536), 400W metal halide (18,150), and a minority of 120W LED lights (254) and 250W induction lamps (4).

The Energy Efficient Services Limited (ESSL) will cover the capital investment for the LED project, said a senior GHMC official. 

The main goal of EESL is to implement energy-efficient projects on a turnkey basis with support from urban local bodies and state governments.

The project will also cover replacement warranty of streetlights, and free operation and maintenance during the tenure, he added. In addition, a centralized monitoring and control system will also be installed.

The LED streetlights will help reduce poser consumption by at last 50% and is estimated to cost about INR 5 billion.