India’s first rural LED street lighting project to start in Andhra

The first rural LED street lighting project of the country will be undertaken in Andhra Pradesh where more than 10 lakh conventional streetlights will be replaced in seven districts. French Development Agency Agence Française de Développement (AFD) is funding this entire project.

It will be implemented  by the Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), which is under the Ministry of Power.

In the first phase, Gram Panchayats of  Guntur, Prakasham, Nellore, Kurnool, Kadapa, Ananthapur and Chittoor will be installed with LED streetlights. This, in turn, will save approximately 147 million units of electricity annually and lead to reduction of 12 crore tonnes of  carbon dioxide. Andhr will get an annual monetary savings of Rs 88.2 crores.

As per the agreement, EESL will be responsible for the entire annual maintenance and warranty replacement in these Gram Panchayats for a period of 10 years.

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh N Chandrababu Naidu, has announced that approximately 30 lakh conventional street lights across villages in the state would be replaced by LED street lights by 2018.