Civic body to keep watch on streetlight infra online

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, March 24

In a major move to transform the way streetlights function, the local municipal corporation (MC) is going to monitor city’s streetlight infrastructure through supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system.

Pilot project

• The pilot project will be first implemented in Sectors 17, 22, 35 and 43 with a total of 3,570 streetlights. Later, it will be extended to the remaining areas of the city.
• “Physical work is completed and software testing is going on. This is a pilot project. After its successful completion, this can be expanded pan-city,” said an official.

7-year pact with firm ending

The MC had signed a Rs 48-crore contract with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public sector undertaking, for the replacement of about 48,000 ordinary streetlights with LEDs in February 2017. Presently, all streetlights are maintained by the EESL. The seven-year maintenance period is going to end soon.

The objective of the project is to monitor each streetlight individually with respect to electrical parameters, detect faults in specific poles and rectify them within a specified time frame. The project aims at enhancing the operational efficiency, reducing energy consumption, ensuring timely maintenance and improving overall street lighting management in the City Beautiful.

The corporation had observed an urgent need

for revamping the entire streetlight infrastructure, including lights, poles, cables and wires.

Under the SCADA system, the civic body will connect all streetlight points with the central server, which will be monitored by designated staff. The staff will further inform the MC’s electrical wing to repair the defunct lights.

As a pilot project, it will be first implemented in Sectors 17, 22, 35 and 43 with a total of 3,570 streetlights. Later, the project will be extended to the remaining areas of the city.

“Physical work is completed and software testing is going on. This is a pilot project. After its successful implementation, this can be extended to the entire city,” said an official.

Each streetlight in the area has been mapped on GIS platform. It will help timely detection and rectification of faults such as bulb failures, wiring issues or power supply problems.

There will be a mobile application for field staff, interactive dashboard with workstation monitoring.

Earlier, a total of 41,782 streetlight fittings have been replaced with LED fittings of power ranging from 18 Watt to 200 Watt. In addition, development of streetlight/garden lights to cover 9,310 dark spots has also been completed.

The civic body had signed a Rs 48-crore contract with Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a public sector undertaking, for the replacement of about 48,000 ordinary streetlights with LEDs in February 2017 and presently, all streetlights are maintained by it. The seven-year maintenance period will end soon.