Solar streetlights for city slums soon

Light gifted by the sun continued to illuminate the Kalvai Karai slum in Tod Hunter Nagar after dusk on Saturday. Sixty streetlights with 18-watt Compact Fluorescent Lamps that automatically get illuminated as the sun sets and switch off when it rises have been set up in the slum in Saidapet at a cost of Rs.11.5 lakh.
“This is a budgetary proposal that has been implemented in record time,” Chennai Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said.

While these solar-powered lamps cost a few thousands more than the ordinary lamps, the cost can be recovered in a year or a year and a half.

Mayor M. Subramanian said that the scheme would result in substantial saving on the Rs.18 crore the local body has to pay the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) every year. The solar-powered streetlights have been proposed for slum areas with narrow roads and would be set up at one location each in all 10 zones.

The standard 20-watt streetlight uses about 19.8 units of electricity a day. The use of one solar-powered lamp as replacement would save 594 units every month.

Currently, all of the over 1.2 lakh streetlights in the city function on electricity drawn from the TNEB lines.

The Corporation has installed more than 4,000 streetlights and 10 high-mast lamps over the last year alone, Mr.Subramanian said. In the current financial year, the local body proposed to install 12,000 streetlights and 23 high-mast lamps.

The Corporation was also set to bring down the current amount of three or four per cent of non-functioning streetlights to zero.