MCD's bright idea

In a bid to conserve energy, the civic agency launches the country's first remote-controlled streetlights

In a bid to conserve energy, the civic agency launches the country's first remote-controlled streetlights

It's quite a turn-on. The MCD has decided to do its bit for the environment by adopting a remote-controlled street-lighting system. Which means the streets of Delhi would light up automatically at dusk and it would be lights-out after sunrise. And, the system is sub-geography specific, so south Delhi wouldn't waste unnecessary power when it's dusk only in Noida.u00a0

All the lights are individually monitored and controlled from a central server.u00a0 In the event of a fault, an SMS is directly sent to the maintenance staff for speedy and timely action.

The system provides the report of operative and non-operative lamps on the roads.u00a0 That's not all; this intelligent system can also detect any theft of power from the feeders.

"The system is based on GSM and GPRS on which the mobiles work.u00a0 While the system eliminates manual or timer-based operation of street lights, the lights are automatically turned on and off according to the sunrise and sunset time of the geographic locations, which in turn is doing energy conservation and reduces CO2 emissions. The operation of streetlights is managed from a central station," said municipal commissioner KS Mehra.

MCD is upgrading the streetlights in two phases.u00a0 The first phase covering 101 km has been successfully completed.u00a0 In the ongoing second phase, 157 km are to be covered. The entire cost incurred in the project is Rs 32 lakh.

"Each feeder pillar powering approximately 70-80 lights is controlled by a device that has a SIM with GPRS connectivity installed.u00a0 The system also facilities auto-remote metering of the energy consumption, thus

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Advantages and benefits
'u00a0Energy saving
' Monitoring from central control room of each road
' Database to remain active for many years
' Billing accuracy (earlier billing was for 12 hours on average basis)
' Time control for switching on/off
' Quick response for redressal (SMS to maintenance staff in the event of a fault)
' Power theft control

eliminating manual meter reading," informed Mehra.

The system also monitors the power quality, power factor, frequency and energy expenditure. Also the device can trip the lights during ultra high or low voltages thus saving the lamps from failures.u00a0