Tiruchi saves energy by switching on LED lights

Some of the leading cities in the country have been giving a thrust on replacing traditional bulbs with energy saving LED lights in the recent past. Few of them have cut down the electricity bills by installing LED lights. Taking a cue from them, the Tiruchi City Corporation too has embarked upon a comprehensive project to replace all traditional bulbs with LED lights in the city.

In the first phase, the civic body has replaced 26,391 fluorescent bulbs of street lights in 65 wards with LED in 2015-16 at a cost of ₹30.29 crore. Voltage controllers were also installed at 334 locations for better operation and maintenance of street lights. The project was implemented under the Public-Private-Partnership mode. Of the total cost, the Integrated Urban Development Management (IUDM) will contribute 50% and the rest will be borne by the Tiruchi Corporation. A private company, which was assigned to implement the scheme, will recover the project cost in five years period.

In the second and final phase, the civic body has engaged another private company to replace all compact fluorescent lights (CFL), smart vision lights, metal halide bulbs fitted on lamp posts of all major roads and thickly populated areas and junctions in the city. It has allotted a sum of ₹23.40 crore under the Smart City for implementing the project. While a sum of ₹14.70 crore has been allotted for outside Area Based Development (ABD) in the city, ₹8.70 crore has been allotted for non-ABD area.

As per the plan, 8264 lights will be replaced with LED ones. Most of them will be of 20 watts to 40 watts. There are 372 high-mast lamps (flood lit) in the city and they have 400 watts of traditional lights. They will be changed with 200 watts capacity LED bulbs.


In addition to them, it has been decided to erect new poles at 816 locations. Of them, 494 are in Area Based Development (ABD) area. Remaining are in non-ABD area.

Corporation Commissioner N. Ravichandran told The Hindu that the project was one of the important components in Smart City initiative. The LED conversion project would be completed within six months.

“We are aiming to achieve 100% LED light coverage in the city within six months. It will not only save energy but also money to a great extent,” says Mr. Ravichandran.

He said LED bulbs were 40 to 60% more energy efficient than traditional lighting technologies. By using LED luminaries, it has been demonstrated that it was possible to provide better quality lighting, lower energy consumption and also reduce Co2 emissions. Operations and maintenance was much lower as LED bulbs last four times longer than traditional bulbs, he said.

Mr. Ravichandran said that 9,080 traditional lights had consumed 86.38 lakh units a year. After replacing LED lights, the power consumption would come down to 34.72 lakh units, thereby saving 51.65 lakh units. It could effectively save ₹3.27 crore per year on account of power consumption for the Corporation, he added.