Hundreds of villages in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh will benefit from solar powered LED street lighting as part of a government program.
The Climate Group reports 800 rural villages across 40 districts will receive the lights under the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency project, which are being supplied by Philips Lighting.
“This project shows the good things that happen when companies, people and the government work together,” said The Climate Group’s India Director, Krishnan Pallassana.
“The importance of LED street lights in terms of safety, emissions savings and money savings is clear, and The Climate Group is thrilled to see our partner Philips Lighting working to improve safety and quality of life for villagers in Uttar Pradesh.”
With 40% of India still not connected to the grid and regular outages in many areas where mains power is available, solar + storage provides a reliable source of pollution-free street lighting.
Throughout India, LED lighting is being embraced in a big way.
Earlier this year, India Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a program to install LED bulbs for domestic and street lighting in 100 cities by March next year.
The Climate Group has also been active in India with its Bijli -Clean Energy for All project. The project has provided more than 60,000 people over the past two years in the states of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh with clean, affordable solar power in the form of hand-held LED lights, home LED lighting systems and micro-grids.
The Climate Group has previously called on every city around the world to make the switch to LED street lighting by 2025. It says that if every outdoor light in the US alone was switched to LED, the nation would save US$6 billion, and carbon emissions avoided would be the equivalent to taking 8.5 million cars off the roads.
After the city of Los Angeles started installing 140,000 LED street lights, it reported electricity savings of 63% and cost savings of around US$8.7 million last year.
“As an emissions-cutting and money-saving technology, LED street lighting is the big no-brainer,” said Mark Kenber, CEO, The Climate Group.
