CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW

The lamp gives visible light as an output, when electrical power is applied to it as an
input. This is defined as ‘efficacy’, which is the ratio of light output from a lamp to
the electric power it consumes. The efficacy of a light source is measured in lumens/
watt. The efficacy of the LED is comparable with some of the present light sources
like sodium lamp; however, the efficiency of LED lighting is very high. For example,
in an incandescent lamp, most of the power (watts) is lost in the form of heat due to
low efficiency, which is in the range of 10 to15 per cent. Comparatively, there is no
heat developed in the LEDs, so the power towards the heat is reduced, and the only
losses take place in the driver circuits which are in the range of 10 to 15 per cent.
Thus, a higher efficiency in the range of 85 to 90 per cent can be obtained in the
LEDs. This makes the potential difference in the energy saving with LED lighting.
The LEDs are used in street lighting because they have a long life, are more
economical to operate and maintain over their life span and they provide more
pleasant spectrum of light. The cities can hope to cut street lighting budget by half by
switching to LED street lighting and this can be accounted by the direct energy
savings alone (Soni & Devendra 2008).

2.1 CURRENT TRENDS IN LED LIGHTING

According to an assessment made by Philips1 in the year 2008, the light sources
containing LEDs and the lighting fixtures using LEDs occupied 7 per cent of the
volume in the world market, despite the high price of the LEDs. It was projected that
in the years to come, the LED cost would drop by 10 times. It was anticipated that by
the year 2020, the LED light sources and LED lighting fixtures would occupy 75 per
cent of the market (Borovkov 2011).

The Knights Magazine reported that the Los Angeles Municipality had been paying
more than $20 million for its fleet of 220,000 streetlights. In the year 2009, the
Municipality changed about 140,000 streetlights to the LED units. As a result, the
energy consumption was reduced by 37 per cent and the Municipality was able to cut
its annual bill by $7 million. The another benefit was saving of $2.5 million annually

1
Netherlands based multinational company

39
in the maintenance costs, as the LED lamps had 3 to 4 times longer life than the
sodium lamps (Heaps 2014).

The government of Thailand has planned to replace 400,000 conventional sodium

streetlights with the LED streetlights. Earlier, the government had installed LEDs in
the traffic signals and experienced benefits of LEDs, like long life and a rapid
payback period. The expected benefits were near-zero maintenance of the LEDs,
improved light quality, 70 per cent reduction in energy usage and annual savings of 5
million Baht2 in the maintenance cost. The expected payback period was two years
(Lumileds 2015).

The Bloomberg business week described that the Chattanooga3 officials replaced the
traditional high-pressure sodium streetlamps with the LEDs lamps and cut energy
usage by 70 per cent. They also discovered further cost-saving in the form of radio
controlled system which could turn the streetlamps on and off and tailor the
brightness to the lighting needs. The combined dollar savings were 75 per cent to 80
per cent (Credeu 2012).

In past few years, many government agencies have come out with tender requirements
for the LED streetlights, on pilot as well as regular basis. Some examples are in
Haryana (200 units of LED streetlights in year 2012, 140 units in year 2014), Jammu
& Kashmir (3500 units in year 2014), Karnataka (288 units LED streetlight units for
replacing sodium vapour, mercury vapour, fluorescent streetlights in year 2013),
Rajasthan (500 units in year 2013), Uttarakhand (131 units LED streetlight units for
replacing mercury vapour, metal halide street lights in year 2011). Generally, these
tenders have been awarded with 2 to 5 years comprehensive maintenance contract,
thereby reducing government’s expenditure on the recurring maintenance charges.

The Ahmedabad MC in Gujarat came out with “expression of interest” in the year
2013 for replacement of around 12,000 sodium vapour street lamps with the LED
lamps, to implement energy efficiency project through ESCO route. The main
purpose was to reduce the energy consumption, bring down the operation and

2
Currency of Thailand
3
Chattanooga is the fourth-largest city in Tennessee state of U.S.

40
maintenance cost, and improve the environmental conditions (Ahmedabad Municipal
Corporation, tenders 2013).

HAREDA issued guidelines in the year 2012 for promotion of 2000 units of
standalone LED solar streetlights for a government sector in Faridabad (Haryana). In
this programme, there was a provision of 40 per cent subsidy of the project’s cost by
the Haryana government and 30 per cent subsidy by MNRE. Effectively, against a
tentative LED light system per unit cost of Rs. 15,000; a subsidy of Rs. 6,000 from
HAREDA and Rs. 2,880 from MNRE was available (HAREDA 2012).

As a demonstration project in the year 2010, HAREDA released the full project cost
of Rs. 70.16 lakh for the replacement of 103 numbers 250 watt sodium streetlights
with 120 watt LED streetlights, and 901 numbers 40 watt tubelights with 24 watt LED
streetlights in Kalka town of Panchkula district. It was estimated that the project will
result in annual savings of 2 lakh units of electricity. The LED lights were projected
to have ten times life as compared to the conventional streetlights, while consuming
only 50 per cent power for the same illumination level (HAREDA 2015).

Under a National LED lighting programme launched by the government of India, 10

million streetlights and 200 million bulbs will be replaced by LEDs in 100 cities in a
span of two years. This is considered to be the biggest energy saving programme in
the world and is expected to amount for a saving Rs. 40,000 million. This programme
also boosts ‘make in India’ campaign by the Indian government, by promoting the
procurement of LED lights from Indian manufacturers (BizLED Bureau 2015a).
Under this programme, EESL had distributed 36,517,704 LED bulbs by 11th
December 2015, amounting to an energy saving of 12,905,357 kWh per day and a
cost saving of Rs. 50,803,573 per day; while reducing 10,548 tons CO2 per day and
avoiding a peak demand of 1,219 MW (DELP 2015).

On January 2014, a report was submitted to the Salem4 council for LED street lighting
with the following points:

- LED is an energy efficient alternative to the existing sodium streetlights.

4
Salem is a city in Tamilnadu state in India

41
 - 1,450 sodium streetlights were replaced by LED streetlights in the year 2013.
It was further expected that 1,100 sodium streetlights will be replaced by LED
streetlights in the year 2014.
- Some residents earlier reported a glare from the LED lighting and inadequate
illumination. This issue was taken care in the next installation of the LED
streetlights.
- The LED streetlight advantages in comparison to the sodium streetlight were
recognized as: Energy savings, 4 times longer life, dark sky compliant,
improved night vision, reliability and better colour rendering. Few
disadvantages were also identified: Higher cost ($300-$500 LED versus $80
sodium), glare, and change from orange to white / blue colour light.
- Based on the electricity tariff, the LED streetlights payback was projected at
eight to nine years.
- The LED streetlights were expected to last approximately 20 years.

(Fernandez, P 2014)

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to replace two lakhs streetlight
by LED streetlights, undertaking the ESCO route. The Corporation will pay back to
the ESCO from the energy savings in the power bill in 7 years. This project will
reduce CO2 emissions equivalent to 41,500 tons (Press Trust of India 2015).

The Indian manufacturers are gearing up to meet the future demand of LED light.
Towards this, Havells5 India Limited acquired 51 per cent stake in Promptec
Renewable Energy Solutions, a LED and solar lighting products manufacturer.
Havells has expected that their LED lighting sales would comprise 50 per cent of their
lighting turnover in the future (BizLED Bureau 2015b).

The IEEMA journal reported in December 2015 that the LED lamp production in
India increased by 30 times in a year’s span from 10 lakhs per month to 3 crore per
month. This became possible due to an increased participation of the private
companies (IEEMA 2015).

The volume procurement of LED bulbs by EESL under the DELP (Domestic Efficient
Lighting Programme) scheme has helped in the reduction of 7 watt LED bulb price

5
An electrical consumer products manufacturer in India

42
from Rs. 275-300 to Rs. 74. As per the statement of Power Minister, the government
is looking to bring down the price of LED bulb to Rs 44 under bulk purchases through
competitive bidding (PTI 2015a).

A magazine report mentioned that Crompton6 will supply 4 million 7 watt LED lamps
to EESL for different projects including Andhra Pradesh and Delhi (BizLED Bureau
2015c).

To encourage the promotion of LED lights in solar systems, MNRE has stopped the
subsidy assistance to CFL based solar lighting system. The circular said that the LED
has many advantages like longer life and environmental friendliness over the CFL;
and the mercury content in CFL made its disposal difficult (PTI 2015b).

The pwc report on ‘Making Haryana Smart’ mentioned that the Haryana government
needs to mandate the use of LED in the streetlights. The retrofitting of all the
conventional streetlights in Haryana with the LED streetlights can potentially save
4,300 million kWh, which is 50 per cent of the total energy consumed for the
streetlights (Rahman et al. 2015).

Though the Indian government is promoting LED lights on a large scale, it is realized
that the LED cost is still very high in comparison to a general light source (GLS) like
incandescent bulb and tubelight. It was reported that for the year 2016, CPWD
(Central Public Works Department) evaluated putting LED lights during republic day
decorations on three historic buildings on the Raisina Hills. However, it was found
that the LED option was not cost effective. As compared to the GLS lighting cost of
Rs. 20-25 lakhs, the LED lighting cost was estimated at Rs. 100 lakhs. These
decoration lights are used for four days only, which would save just Rs. one lakh in
the energy savings by using LED. Therefore, the decision was taken in favour of GLS
lamps (Jain 2016).

The Vadodara MC was one of the first MCs to undertake a LED initiative on a large
scale by replacing 45,000 numbers of 36 watt fluorescent tubelights with 20 watt LED
lights (VMC 2014). However, in year 2014, the opposition councillors protested that
the costly LED streetlights stopped functioning after mild rains in the city. There was
heated political debate on this subject, alleging irregularities in the replacement of the
conventional streetlights (Lin 2014).

6
Crompton Greaves in an Avantha group company in India

43
2.2 ESCO AND THEIR INVOLVEMENT IN LIGHTING

Even though the LED benefits have been studied and observed, it has been found that
the Municipalities remain reluctant to commit the upfront capital required to do the
retrofits. ESCO (Energy Services Company)7 model is one solution, wherein the
ESCO company offers to pay for and install LED street lighting as part of an energy
performance contract. The Municipality does not have to provide upfront capital for
the project. Instead, it makes regular payments to the ESCO company based on its
energy savings (Heaps 2014). This is like a ‘pay as you save’ scheme.

However, there are issues of non-performance of the ESCO delivery system, despite
the cost benefit and attractiveness of the LED streetlights. One important reason can
be attributed to the tender conditions stipulating minimum guarantee of the energy
and cost savings. Even though the payback to ESCO company is based on the amount
of energy savings, it is practically difficult to deliver the guaranteed savings. This
could be due to the reasons that the pre-project baselines may not be met, the
consumption patterns may depend on seasonal and the other variations, the installed
equipment not meeting the required standards etc. (Energy Efficiency Services
Limited 2013).

In India too, the government is taking many initiative steps towards the energy saving
by LED street lighting. One such example is setup of ‘Energy Efficiency Services
Limited (EESL)’ company to facilitate the implementation of energy efficiency
projects. The EESL will work as ESCO, as a consultancy organization for energy
efficiency, CDM8, etc.; and as a resource centre for capacity building of the SDAs,
Utilities, Financial Institutions, etc. the EESL toolkit executive summary stated that
the public lighting in India consumed about 8,500 million kWh of electricity in the
financial year 2012-13. It was reported that retrofitting the entire conventional
streetlights with LEDs could result in potential annual savings of 4,300 million kWh,
which is about 50 per cent of the total energy consumed. Furthermore, the operational
optimization could lead to an additional 15 to 20 per cent energy savings. Assuming a

7
ESCO is an energy service company; a business enterprise that develops, installs, and finances the
projects designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce the operations and maintenance costs for its
customers' facilities.
8
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is one of the flexibility mechanisms defined in the Kyoto
Protocol (IPCC, 2007) that provides for emissions reduction projects which generate certified emission
reduction units which may be traded in emissions trading schemes (Clean deveopment mechanism
2014).

44
power cost of Rs. 5 per kWh, this translates to an annual cost savings of Rs. 2,500
crores (Energy Efficiency Services Limited 2013).

Asian electronics, who are a manufacturer of lighting products, also undertake ESCO
activities. They have defined a simple process to undertake an ESCO project for
energy savings.

Figure 2.1: ESCO project flowchart

(Asian Electronics n.d.)

45
There has been some criticism too on the process of procurement of LED streetlights
by the Municipal Corporations. In May 2016, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC)
ordered replacement of 26,712 sodium streetlights with the LED streetlights to a
private ESCO company. As per the order, the private company was to invest in
installation of LED streetlights and provide operation and maintenance for 16 years.
The NMC was to pay back the amount from the energy savings. It was reported
subsequently that NMC would pay Rs. 336 crore to the private ESCO company, on
account of replacement of the existing streetlight poles, cables, dimmer system and
provision of operation and maintenance for 16 years. This amount was four times
more than the amount invested by the private company (Anparthi 2015).

In January 2015, the Mumbai Municipal Corporation had replaced sodium streetlights
(yellow colour) with white LED lights in the iconic Marine Drive road. The project
was implemented by EESL by ESCO route. There was a protest that the yellow
heritage look of the Marine Drive road has been lost. The matter went to High Court,
which directed to restore yellow lights on the road. EESL implemented this order by
replacing the white light LEDs with yellow light LEDs (Pinto 2016).

2.3 GOVERNMENT POLICIES IN LIGHTING

DELP (Demand Side Management based Efficient Lighting Programme)

The domestic sector accounts for almost 50 per cent of the energy consumption in
Delhi and the lighting is a key component of the same. In order to promote the usage
of LEDs in the household sector and reduce the energy consumption, EESL in
consultation with BSES Rajdhani, BSES Yamuna, Tata Power Delhi Distribution
Limited (TPDDL) and the Government of Delhi, has proposed to implement the
DELP (Demand Side Management based Efficient Lighting Programme) programme
in Delhi. The LED based household lights could reduce energy consumption by 88
percent (as compared to an ordinary bulb) and 50 percent (as compared to a CFL).
DELP promotes the usage of LEDs at a minimal cost and is designed to monetize the
energy consumption reduction for the domestic consumers.

An ordinary incandescent bulb is an extremely energy inefficient form of lighting

with just 5 per cent of the electricity input converted to light. In comparison, the
LEDs consume about one-tenth of the energy used by the incandescent bulbs to

46
provide the same or better light output. However, the high cost of LED (INR 400 to
500) is one of the main reasons for the consumers not buying the LED bulb. The
DELP on-bill financing model proposes to overcome the first cost barrier to gather a
maximum consumer participation. The consumer needs to preregister to avail the
scheme. Under this scheme, the consumer is eligible to purchase up to 4 LED bulbs at
an upfront cost of INR 10 each. The balance amount of INR 83 will be recovered
from the electricity bill at INR 10 per month for next 8 months and INR 3 in the last
month. Alternatively, the consumer can also pay an upfront cost of INR 93 per LED
bulb. The distribution of the LED bulbs has already started from 1st June 2015.

Every household is expected to save INR 648 per annum in the electricity bill (with 4
LED bulbs), which is more than the LED bulbs cost. This scheme will result in an
annual reduction of 504 million units of energy consumption in Delhi.

A comparison matrix for the bulbs is given in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Comparison matrix for bulbs

LED (under CFL Incandescent

DELP scheme) bulb
Watt 7 14 60
Energy efficiency 88 per cent 50 per cent 0 per cent
Annual cost savings of INR 162 INR 85 Nil
electricity bill per bulb)
Life expectancy (hours) 50,000 8,000 1,200
Free of cost warranty 3 years 1 year Nil

(Energy Efficiency Services Limited 2014)

The Indian Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi had launched the DELP scheme and a
national programme for LED-based home and street lighting on 5th January 2015,
describing the LED bulb as a “Prakash Path – Way to Light”. The implementation
began in March 2015, and the target is to cover 100 cities in a phased manner with
domestic and street lighting by March 2016.

47
Bachat Lamp Yojana (BLY)

It is a public-private partnership program comprising of BEE, the distribution

companies (DISCOMs) and the private investors to accelerate the market
transformation in energy efficient lighting. Under this program, over 29 million
incandescent bulbs have been replaced by the CFLs.

In the next phase of BLY, BEE will promote the use of LED lights using the
institutional structure of BLY programme. The BEE provides a support to Rural
Electrification Corporation (REC) for framing technical specification and monitoring
and verification of the energy savings from the LED bulbs distributed under RGVVY
scheme to BPL households. The BEE will also undertake outreach activities to
promote large scale adoption of the LEDs.

(Ministry of Power n.d.)

EESL tool kit for street light energy efficiency

The EESL tool kit for street light energy efficiency establishes a framework to
remove the market barriers that impede the implementation of efficient street lighting.
The EESL has developed this toolkit on the back of analyzing the practical situation
in the Municipalities, and experience gained through the implementation of its
ongoing street lighting projects. The tool kit is conceived as a means to enable
Municipalities to easily navigate the project development and the implementation
process. It encompasses: An actionable methodology, financing mechanisms,
procurement specifications, best practices, and terms of references and standard
templates for key contracts.

The toolkit presents EESL’s innovative annuity based model that overcomes the
failures in current methodology of the shared savings. The key features of EESL’s
model are:

- Payments not linked to energy bill: Payments are based on initially

demonstrated and agreed energy performance.

- Saving demonstration: During DPR (detailed project report) preparation, the

energy performance is demonstrated on a sampling basis.

48
 - Service level agreement: To ensure the technical performance of high
standards and free replacement warranties.

- Payment security: Bank guarantee to cover the capital cost or state

government guarantee.

- Repayment of investment: On fixed annuity paid by the Municipal

Corporation, monthly or quarterly.

EESL’s methodology (as per Table 2.2) for efficient street lighting will benefit the
Municipalities by reductions in energy and maintenance costs.

Table 2.2: EESL methodology

MoU MoU to be signed between Municipalities and EESL

DPR validation Detailed walk through energy audit for data validation of
existing DPR and joint verification
Technology Assess actual energy savings, determine annuity
demonstration payments and finalize technical specifications
Agreement Agreement to be signed between Municipalities and
EESL for implementation
Payment mechanism The payment security mechanism to be finalized
Implementation EESL will implement the project based on own
resources
M&V Deemed saving approach used

The methodology could be suitably accepted as a standard for implementing street

lighting projects across the states, thus resulting in the standardization of processes for
comprehensibility, replicability and interoperability. This will significantly reduce the
project cost and lag time.

The EESL could help increase the uptake of efficient street lighting programs at local
and regional levels in two ways:

- Provide a comprehensive turnkey solution, by designing, implementing and

monitoring the project using its own funds, or

49
 - Provide transaction support to Municipalities to develop and design projects,
develop contract documents, provide project management service and
undertake monitoring and verification.

(Energy Efficiency Services Limited 2013)

Some details of EESL’s ongoing LED streetlight projects are given below.

Andhra Pradesh:

Installation in progress in 13 ULBs in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam

and was expected to be completed by September, 2015.

Installation in progress in 39 ULBs of other districts and was expected to be

completed by October, 2015.

Out of the above, the work in 4 ULBs; Vishakhapatnam, Nellimarla, Palacole,

Narsapur has been completed.

Delhi:

The work commenced on 1st August 2015 and was expected to be completed by 31st
December 2015.

Kerala:

EESL started implementation of Alleppey Municipal Corporation streetlights with

LEDs totaling to 8,051 numbers. The project was expected to be completed by
October 2015.

Rajasthan:

The implementation of the first phase of ULBs commenced in May 2015 and the
installation work for Pushkar and Mount Abu has been completed.

Uttar Pradesh:

The LED street implementation work in Aligarh was expected to be completed by

September 2015.

(Energy Efficiency Services Limited n.d.)

50
EESL’s financing model has now been successfully implemented. In Vizag
(Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh), EESL has implemented about 92,000 streetlight
retrofits, which will reduce the energy consumption by 50 per cent. The entire upfront
capital of 640 million INR has been invested by EESL and will be recovered over a
seven years period. The Municipal Corporation will achieve an annual savings of 310
million INR, out of which it will pay back 185 million INR to EESL every year. The
service model is replicable, as it obviates the need of upfront capital for the Municipal
Corporation as well as reduces their recurring expenditure. The model could help
scale up the energy-efficient streetlight replacement in India.

(Flanders Investment & Trade 2015)

LED Village Campaign

BEE has initiated a nationwide program ‘LED village campaign’, in which BEE
proposes to convert the existing incandescent bulbs (ICL) in the households and the
streetlights of one village with LEDs. The objective is to showcase the new
technology for lighting using the LED, so that a comparison can be demonstrated
between LED and ICL. The BEE is facilitating the state governments in replicating
these demonstration projects. A maximum support to the tune of INR 1,500,000 is
being provided by BEE. The demo projects on energy efficient street lighting have
been implemented at Dimapur (Nagaland), Dibrugarh (Assam), Gandhinagar
(Gujarat), Bangalore (Karnataka), Aurangabad (Maharashtra), Dehradun
(Uttarakhand) and Gurgaon (Haryana).

(Samal 2013)

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)

The mission statement of JNNURM is “The aim is to encourage reforms and fast
track planned development of identified cities. The focus is to be on efficiency in
urban infrastructure and service delivery mechanisms, community participation, and
accountability of ULBs/ Parastatal agencies towards citizens”. (JNNURM 2011)

Some street lighting projects are eligible for financial assistance under the JNNURM
scheme.

51
Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)

The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) was launched on 11th
January, 2010 by MNRE. The Mission has set an ambitious target of deploying
20,000 MW of grid connected solar power by the year 2022 and is aimed at reducing
the cost of solar power generation in the country through (i) Long term policy; (ii)
Large scale deployment goals; (iii) Aggressive R&D; and (iv) Domestic production of
critical raw materials, components and products, as a result to achieve grid tariff
parity by the year 2022. The mission will create an enabling policy framework to
achieve this objective and make India a global leader in the solar energy.

Under this mission, MNRE has released technical performance specifications for the
white LED based solar streetlight system. The warranty period for the complete solar
streetlight with LED has been fixed at five years. The MNRE is also giving 30 per
cent of the project cost amount as financial assistance to the Municipal Corporations
for implementing the LED based solar streetlight projects.

(JNNSM 2012)

Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA)

The government of Haryana has made HAREDA as the nodal agency for finalizing all
the rate contracts/ supplies pertaining to the energy efficient lighting systems for all
the state government offices/ organizations vide order dated 25th February 2014.

With an objective to demonstrate the most efficient technology option for the
Municipal street lighting, HAREDA has prepared a special and first of its kind project
for installing the LED based street lighting fixtures in the entire Municipal area of the
Kalka town of Panchkula district. The BEE, Ministry of Power and the government of
India (GOI) has sanctioned this project in January, 2010 and has released the full
project cost of INR 7.016 million for implementation of the project. Under this
project, 103 HPSV lamps of 250 watt will be replaced with 120 watt LED based street
lighting and 901 conventional 40 watt tube lights with 24 watt LED based street
lights. Besides this, 7 microprocessor based timers to switch the street lights at pre-
determined time shall be installed on all the seven switching panels. The installed
equipment will be warranted for two years, followed by a three years comprehensive
maintenance contract. As per the pre-installation study conducted by an independent

52
consultant appointed by the BEE and GOI, the implementation of the project shall
result in an estimated annual savings of 200,000 units of electricity (HAREDA 2015).

In their annual plan for the year 2015-2016, HAREDA has given the following:

- LED based solar photovoltaic (SPV) home lighting system: Approximately

5,900 numbers of LED based home lighting systems (with two LED lights) are
proposed to be provided in the State during next five years. HAREDA will
provide subsidies to the users to promote the scheme.

- SPV street lighting systems (11/9 watt) for urban areas: 4,000 solar street
lights (standalone/ centralized power plant based) are proposed to be provided
in the urban areas of the State in next five years for illuminating the premises
of various institutions, hospitals, industrial units, group housing complexes,
Municipal areas, slums etc. which do not require high intensity illumination.
The solar street lights will provide illumination while conserving the
electricity. These devices will also help in popularizing green and clean
power. The state financial assistance will be available besides financial
support from MNRE/ GOI. It is expected that the installation of 750 solar
streetlights will benefit about 7,500 households and about 37,500 people.

- SPV street lighting system for rural areas: 12,500 solar street lights
(standalone/ centralized power plant based) are proposed to be provided in the
rural areas of the State in the next five years for illuminating community
places like panchayat ghar, chaupals, streets etc. The state financial assistance
will be available besides financial support from MNRE/ GOI. It is expected
that the installation of 2,500 solar street lights will benefit about 12,500
households and about 62,500 people.

(HAREDA n.d.)

Gujarat Energy Development Agency (GEDA)

GEDA is the State Nodal Agency (SNA) and the State Designated Agency (SDA)
involved for the promotion and popularization of alternative and energy efficient
technologies in Gujarat state. GEDA is taking/ has taken the following initiatives:

53
 - 590 numbers energy efficient streetlights as a demonstration project and
energy efficient LED lighting on “Ch” and “J” roads in Gandhinagar.

- Replacement of 250 watt sodium vapour lights in the Minister’s enclave with
LED-based lights of 75 watt.

- 65 numbers solar photovoltaic streetlights in nine public parks.

- Implemented first LED demonstration village project in village Amrapura in

Gujarat. This project was jointly funded by BEE. It involved the installation of
1,000 numbers of 9 watt LED bulbs, 350 numbers of 14 watt LED tubelights
and 55 numbers of 18 watt LED streetlights.

(GEDA 2015)

The other notable points are as below:

- The Indian government is taking active interest to promote the LEDs through
various schemes and projects. The Indian central government is also financing
different projects.

- To encourage ‘Make in India’ initiative, the Ministry of Power is having

dialogues with various LED chip as well as luminaire manufacturers.

- The Indian government is trying to implement various standards through

‘Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)’ to eventually get quality and durable LED
products in the market.

- Currently, the basic import duty on LED is ‘nil’. The CVD (countervailing
duty) and SAD (special additional duty) and other taxes are refundable.

(Flanders Investment & Trade 2015)

2.4 COMPARISON BETWEEN LED AND CONVENTIONAL LIGHTING

LED is the fourth and the latest generation of light sources; following the first-
generation incandescent lamp, the second-generation fluorescent lamp, and the third-
generation high intensity discharge (HID) lamp.

A comparison between various lamp technologies is given in Table 2.3. The rate of
converting electrical energy into visible light by the lamp is called ‘luminous efficacy’
and is measured in lumens per watt.

54
Table 2.3: Comparison between various lamp technologies

Type of lamp Luminous Colour Lamp Remarks

efficacy rendering life in
(lumen/ properties hours
watt)
High pressure 35-65 Fair 10,000- High energy use, poor
mercury vapour 15,000 lamp life
Metal halide 70-130 Excellent 8,000- High luminous efficacy,
12,000 poor lamp life
High pressure 50-150 Fair 15,000- Energy-efficient, poor
sodium vapour 24,000 colour rendering
Low pressure 100-190 Very poor 18,000- Energy-efficient, very
sodium vapour 24,000 poor colour rendering
Low Pressure 30-90 Good 5,000- Poor lamp life, medium
mercury 10,000 energy use, only
fluorescent available in low
tubular lamp wattages
Energy-efficient 100-120 Very good 15,000- Energy-efficient, long
fluorescent 20,000 lamp life, only available
tubular lamp in low wattages
Light emitting 70-160 Good 40,000- High energy savings,
diode (LED) 90,000 low maintenance, long
life, no mercury, high
investment cost, nascent
technology

(USAID India 2010)

Conventionally, the sodium lamps are majorly used for street lighting. It can be noted
from Table 2.2 that the efficacy of sodium lamp and LED lamp is in similar range.
However, the energy consumption is decided by the efficacy of the lamp along with
the efficiency of the lamp assembly/ fixture. The efficiency is a function of both the
light source (bulb or lamp) and the fixture which includes the necessary controls like
power supplies, other electronics, and optical elements (USAID India 2010).

55
The efficiency of various lamp assemblies is given in Table 2.4.

Table 2.4: Efficiency of various lamp assemblies

Type of lamp fixture Typical fixture efficiency

Incandescent 60 per cent
Mercury vapour 30 per cent
Low pressure sodium 45 per cent
High pressure sodium 25 per cent
Metal halide 35-40 per cent
CFL 60 per cent
LED 60-90 per cent
Induction 60-90 per cent

(Clinton Climate Initiative 2010)

As the sodium light fixture efficiency (25-45 per cent) is lower than the LED light
fixture efficiency (60-90 per cent); as a result the total system efficiency of LED light
is higher. Therefore, the LED lights are more efficient and save energy in
comparison to the sodium lights.

EESL has reviewed the conventional street lighting and has come out with equivalent
LED light ratings as per Table 2.5.

Table 2.5: Potential savings by use of LED streetlights

Present lighting system Approximate equivalent Potential saving

upgrade system (LED/ in energy
with control) consumption
Fluorescent tubelight 40W LED 16 watt 61 per cent
Sodium 70W LED 30 watt 61 per cent
Sodium 150W LED 60 watt 63 per cent
Sodium/Metal halide 250W LED 120 watt 56 per cent
Sodium 400W LED 240 watt 46 per cent
Manual switching Lighting control 10-25 per cent
management system

(Energy Efficiency Services Limited 2013)

56
The other major advantage of LED light is its long life. Since the LEDs are
semiconductors; they are almost free of wire-breakage failures inherent in the
conventional light sources. However, the light intensity decreases with length of the
service because of the material degradation. In general-purpose light sources, the
lifetime is defined as time to failure, or decrease in the light intensity below 70 per
cent of its initial value. The same concept is adopted in the standardization of LEDs
intended for general lighting. The relationship between variation of the light intensity
(lumen maintenance) and the lighting time for incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps,
and LEDs is illustrated in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2: Lumen maintenance of lamps (Bessho & Shimizu 2012)

The actual LED lifetime depends greatly on the design, materials employed, heat
release conditions, and the other factors. Generally, the peripheral components
degrade as the temperature rises, and the lifetime decreases exponentially. For
example, the lifetime of the long-known miniature white LED is estimated at about
10,000 hours at the rated current. However, the light flux declines over time due to
fall in the light transmittance of the epoxy resin used for the packaging, owing to the
synergistic effect of light and heat. In contrast, when an LED is sealed in a ceramic
package made of durable silicone resin, a lifetime over 40,000 hours can be attained.
In any case, the temperature rise accelerates the degradation, and hence the heat
release control is an important issue in the design of LED modules and lighting
devices. In order to attain a lifetime of 40,000 hours at the current level of technology,
the working temperature of the LED semiconductor chips must be kept below about
100°C. New materials and technologies are also being developed in order to provide a
longer life at higher temperatures. The LED life is about 40,000 hours (about 10 years
in normal usage), compared with 1,000 hours for incandescent lamp and 6,000 hours

57
for fluorescent lamp. This is particularly advantageous when the lamp replacement is
cumbersome, for example the streetlights (Bessho & Shimizu 2012).

The LED lamps are environmentally friendly with no mercury. The conventional
lamps like fluorescent tubelight, mercury vapour, sodium vapour, metal halide and
CFL consist of mercury content. The mercury has undesirable health effects on
humans as well as animals; and therefore is considered as a hazardous component in
the lamps. Thus, the mercury comprising lamps require special disposal methods on
failure. The mercury content in various types of lamps is given in Table 2.6.

Table 2.6: Mercury content in various types of lamps

Type of Lamp Average amount

CFL 1-25 mg
Fluorescent U-tube 3-12 mg
Linear fluorescent lamp 10-50 mg
Mercury vapour lamp 25-225 mg
Metal halide lamp 25-225 mg
Sodium vapour lamp 20-145 mg

(Northwest Territories: Environment and Natural Resources 2012)

Some more benefits of LED lamps are summarized in Table 2.7.

Table 2.7: LED lamp advantages

Good colour rendering Small size and weight

Instant turn on/ off response Low emissions of ultraviolet rays
Vibration resistant Less heat generation
Tolerance of low temperature Dimmer control
Recyclability No sky glow
Less attractive to insects Variety of light colours
Lack of harm to objects, paintings

58
LED lighting is a new and emerging technology. While the merits are being
leveraged, the LEDs have some disadvantages too, which need to be overcome by
more developments.

Harmonics and power factor: Harmonic currents are generated when some type of
loads are connected to the incoming power supply. Harmonics create waveform
distortion in the power supply system and this adversely affects the other loads
connected on the same power supply. The LED is a light emitting diode and the
diodes cause harmonics. Therefore, particular attention must be given to the design of
LED power supply circuits. The LED lighting devices consume only few watts, and
the harmonics produced by such devices can be ignored; however, with future
widespread of the LED lighting, more luminaries will be connected to the power
supply system, then the harmonics must be taken into the consideration. Similarly, the
power factor issues must also be addressed (Bessho & Shimizu 2012).

Glare: There is a rising concern about discomfort glare caused by the LED road
luminaires. An experimental result showed that a LED source with a correlated colour
temperature (CCT) of 3,000 kelvin is perceived less glary than the one with a CCT of
6,000 kelvin. Therefore, a LED source with lower CCT is preferred for reducing
discomfort glare (Zhu et al. 2013).

Presence of hazardous material: Though the LED lamp does not contain mercury,
however, some types of LEDs may comprise of hazardous components like lead and
arsenic (Jituri & Sarin 2015a).

Interchangeability of LED spares and serviceability: While, in a conventional

streetlight; various components like bulb, choke, and starter/ igniter are
interchangeable between different makes/ manufacturers; the same is not possible in
the LED streetlight. The LED manufacturers have different design and construction,
making it difficult to interchange the spares. Moreover, the conventional streetlight
components are discrete allowing the replacement of one or more components
individually in the field; but in comparison, the LED streetlight is a composite unit,
allowing less flexibility for field servicing or components replacement.

59
In an experimental investigation of LED streetlight attenuation in fog conditions, it
was observed that the light of shorter wavelengths (blue and green) was found to
scatter by about 1.5 times weaker than that of longer wavelengths (yellow and red).
The main contribution to luminance in the field of view was due to the luminance of
the foreground light scattered in the fog. Therefore, a white/ blue light from the LED
streetlight was expected to give lesser vision in the fog conditions in comparison to
the yellow light of the sodium streetlight (Otas et al. 2012).

In contrast to the positive LED reports, a conclusion from a road lighting study stated
that still the traditional high pressure sodium lamp is the best solution considering
both cost of the installation and performance, at least for the bigger roads due to a
requirement of large installed lumen9 output to reach the demands regarding lighting
level and uniformity. The study, however, mentioned that for competitiveness, the
LED luminaire has to become more efficient (higher lumen/ watt ratio) and lower the
‘cost per lumen’ of installation (Larsen 2012).

On an overall basis, the benefits of LEDs overweigh over the disadvantages. A PEST
(political, economic, social and technological factors) analysis expressed tilt in the
favour of LED lighting in India in the future. It was reported that with more
popularity of the LED lights, the price reduction will follow, which will result in the
more consumption. The technology will also become mature with improvements in
quality (Jituri & Sarin 2015b).

However, with the leap to change over to LED lights, there is an issue that the
existing conventional streetlights have not reached their end of life; so more waste
will be generated. Most of these streetlights have some mercury content, so proper
waste disposal methods will be required to be applied. Some of the components like
glass, metals and plastic can be recovered/ recycled (Jituri & Sarin 2015a).

9
Lumen is a measure of the total amount of visible light emitted by a source.

60
2.5 OVERVIEW OF STREETLIGHTS IN SELECTED MUNICIPAL
CORPORATIONS IN HARYANA AND GUJARAT STATE

The selected Municipal Corporations were approached and details of their existing
streetlights were collected.

Faridabad Municipal Corporation in Haryana

Table 2.8: List of streetlights in Faridabad MC

Type of streetlight Numbers

Fluorescent tubelight 21,853
Sodium/ Metal Halide/ Mercury light 22,254
High mast light 422
CFL light 1,080
LED light 225
Total 45,834

Source: Faridabad Municipal Corporation (19th December 2015)

1080, 2% 225, 0%
422, 1%

Tubelight

Sodium/ Metal Halide/

Mercury
21853, 48% High Mast

22254, 49% CFL

LED

Figure 2.3: List of streetlights in Faridabad MC

61
Karnal Municipal Corporation in Haryana

Table 2.9: List of streetlights in Karnal MC

Type of streetlight Numbers

Fluorescent tubelight 2.000
Sodium/ Metal Halide/ Mercury light 7,000
High mast light 0
CFL light 0
LED light 0
Total 9,000

Source: Karnal Municipal Corporation (29th December 2015)

0, 0% 0, 0%
0, 0%

2000, 22% Tubelight

Sodium/ Metal Halide/

Mercury
High Mast

CFL

7000, 78% LED

Figure 2.4: List of streetlights in Karnal MC

62
Gurgaon Municipal Corporation in Haryana

Table 2.10: List of streetlights in Gurgaon MC

Type of streetlight Numbers

Fluorescent tubelight 31,195
Sodium/ Metal Halide/ Mercury light 4,764
High mast light 146
CFL light 1,199
LED light 1,880
Total 39,184

Source: Gurgaon Municipal Corporation (30th December 2015)

1199, 3% 1880, 5%

146, 0%

Tubelight
4764, 12%
Sodium/ Metal Halide/
Mercury
High Mast

CFL

31195, 80% LED

Figure 2.5: List of streetlights in Gurgaon MC

63
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in Gujarat

Table 2.11: List of streetlights in Ahmedabad MC

Type of streetlight Numbers

Fluorescent tubelight 48,800
Sodium/ Metal Halide/ Mercury light 65,430
High mast light 245
CFL light 16,800
LED light 5,500
Total 136,775

Source: Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (29th December 2015)

5500, 4%

245, 0%
16800, 12% Tubelight

Sodium/ Metal Halide/

48800, 36%
Mercury
High Mast

CFL

65430, 48% LED

Figure 2.6: List of streetlights in Ahmedabad MC

64
Surat Municipal Corporation in Gujarat

Table 2.12: List of streetlights in Surat MC

Type of streetlight Numbers

Fluorescent tubelight 69,510
Sodium/ Metal Halide/ Mercury light 39,136
High mast light 260
CFL light 0
LED light 5,474
Total 114,626

Source: Surat Municipal Corporation (4th January 2016)

5474, 5%
0, 0%
506, 0%

Tubelight

Sodium/ Metal Halide/

Mercury
39136, 34%
High Mast

69510, 61% CFL

LED

Figure 2.7: List of streetlights in Surat MC

65
Vadodara Municipal Corporation in Gujarat

The Vadodara MC was one of the first MCs to implement LED streetlights on a large
scale basis. They received national award for energy conservation in the year 2014.

Table 2.13: List of streetlights in Vadodara MC

Type of streetlight Numbers

Fluorescent tubelight 8,000
Sodium/ Metal Halide/ Mercury light 30,300
High mast light 260
CFL light 0
LED light 47,000
Total 85,560

Source: Vadodara Municipal Corporation (7th January 2016)

8000, 9%

Tubelight

Sodium/ Metal Halide/

Mercury
High Mast
30300, 36%
47000, 55%
CFL

LED

260, 0%
0, 0%

Figure 2.8: List of streetlights in Vadodara MC

66