MCC looks at sun to save power

Automatic timer to switch on and off street lights in the city

 To save wastages on energy front, the Mysore City Corporation (MCC) is looking towards tapping solar energy.

The city corporation in association with Karnataka Renewable Energy Development Limited (KREDL) has decided to incorporate ‘automatic timer’ technology for switching on and off the street lights in the city. A Central government project estimated to cost Rs 75 lakh, it will be initiated through KREDL.

Not in a hurry to install the system across the city, the local body wants to start from the core area  covering 440 ‘on and off’ points with lamps in the range of 10 to 15 in each points. The core area of the city, comprises Hardinge Circle, Irwin Road, part of JLB road, Ramaswamy Circle and Chamaraja Double road.

According to MCC officials, in the existing set up, there are 2,340 on and off points with one electrician being entrusted with the task manning of 30 points. They are asked to turn on the lights by 6.15 pm and turn it off by 6 am, depending on the seasons.

To ensure that there is no inordinate delay in the job, points to be covered are allotted depending on the distance. It requires a minimum of 30 minutes to a maximum of one hour to carry out this exercise.

Once the technology is in place, it will not only help energy savings up to 30 per cent, but also the amount (nominal of Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000 paid as monthly salary per person) spent on the same.
Project Engineer, KREDL, Mysore, K Dinesh Kumar said that the estimated amount has been sanctioned and the process to identify a consultant required to study the pros and cons are on.

 The engineer said that the timers will be installed in select points in the capacities of one KW and two KW, along with a sensor. As soon as the sun sets, the lamps in the points will turn on and turn off during the sun rise. The equipment are also easy to monitor with Geographical Information System (GIS).
The sensor device will also help in emitting required lux (amount of light generated) depending upon the darkness. For example, after the city sleeps at 11.30 pm, not much of lux is required. Brightness of lamps will be automatically reduced. 
Besides, the timer will also come in handy in checking voltage fluctuation and streamlining the power factor connection, by bringing it to uniform level saving energy up to 30 per cent.
The engineer said that a majority of the budget would be diverted towards buying the equipment, with each estimated to cost around Rs two lakh. It’s also being planned to spend the remaining amount on replacing the existing sodium lamps and tube lights with light emitting diode (LED) lamps for the same area.

MCC that has close to 70,000 street lamps, spends Rs 10 crore to Rs 11 crore per annum (Rs 90 lakh to Rs one crore per month) in the form of electricity bill.