Energetica India 89 - May 2020

SMART CITIES Digital Smart Lighting Technologies for Smart Cities The smart street lighting market in India is estimated to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 42 percent between 2016 and 2022. Many cities in the country have already started deploying smart streetlights in order to turn smart city vision into a reality. Advanced lighting technologies such as connected lighting, IoT, and smart poles are set to uplift our cities’ existing infrastructure, make them safer, and more sustainable while easing administration for municipal authorities. About 31 percent of India’s population lives in urban areas (Census 2011) and with increasing urbanisation, 40 percent of India’s population is expected to move to urban areas. This will put an increasing amount of pressure on the country’s in- frastructure and thus it needs to be upgraded to ensure overall sustainability and efficiency. In 2015, the Government of India (GoI) launched its ambitious Smart Cities project which is set to usher us into an era of technologically advanced cities thatwill raise the standard of infrastructure in the country.Initially, the government hadcommitted to develop 100 smart cities but now, the program has beenextended to include 4,000 cities. While technology as the driver for smart cities, sustainability is at the heart of the initiative. An ideal smart city uses information and communication technologies(ICT) to improve the quality of life while ensuring that it meets the needs of the present as well as future generations. Presently, lighting in India constitutes about 18 percent of overall electricity consumption. To enable sustainability, it is important to focus on savings and use solutions that extend operational savings and are beneficial for the overall ecosystem. Here are some lighting solutions that can be utilised for smart cities and a more sustainable future. Use of LEDs An exemplar smart city should constitute buildings and public infrastructure that are deployed with energy efficient lighting systems i.e. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). LED lights consume 80-85 percent less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs hence reducing carbon emissions and LED chips have a much higher operating lifetime(approximately 50,000 hours.) LEDs are also environment friendly as they release zero mercury toxins as opposed to the previous generation of lights, Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs.) To promote the usage, the Government of India has also launched many initiatives such as UJALA, the smart cities mission, and Street Lighting National Program to accelerate the deployment of LEDs across the country. As of October 2019, the number of LED streetlights installed in the country reached 1 crore which in turn has led to a reduction in CO2 levels per year by 4.6 million tons. Under this initiative, 6.71 billion kilowatt-hours of energy were also saved across the nation. Connected Lighting and Internet of Things With connected and smart lighting solutions, LEDs will be con- nected to a centrally controlled network using the software. This will enable urban authorities to control lighting requirements in different areas during different times and optimise it in accor- dance with the requirement leading to optimum energy utilisation and cost savings. With the aid of technologies such asthe Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), fully integrated lighting systems will be able to keep track of electricity wastage, lighting out- ages, control and monitor lighting systems remotely to ensure operational efficiency.This will lead to a substantial amount of electricity and energy savings. Other benefits of connected lighting include interface with geo-maps, integration with the smart city system and periodic energy consumption reports. Smart Lighting Poles Within the city, smart lighting poles will fulfil more objectives than 30 energetica INDIA- May_2020 Prag Bhatnagar Senior Vice President, Havells India Limited