WITH Pune slated to get uninterrupted power supply from June, thanks to the country first public-private initiative to mitigate power woes, the Pune Cantonment Board seems to have taken a leaf out of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) initiative as far as energy saving drives go.
The PCB has installed a unique computer-controlled street lighting system that will cut its electricity consumption by 45 per cent. The system, installed at a cost of Rs 1.07 crore, promises to save up to 14 lakh units of electrical power per year consumed by the 5,000 street lamps in the cantonment area.
The system works on a GSM-based remote-control technology with each streetlight connected to a central computer in the PCB’s electrical office through 84 switching points. Using a unique SMS messaging system, the central system cuts down wasteful electricity consumption by regulating each streetlights voltage and operating timings. The system will be fully functional within one month.
“The system will use 18 parameters to calculate its operational timings. It will use factors like sunrise, sunset timings and the season to determine when it has to be switched on and off. During late hours, with less traffic the voltage (the lights will be dimmed) will be toned down to conserve energy,” said Sunil Doshi, PCB consultant for energy conservation.
As such, the manual on and off switching will cease and the central computer will control each light. This will help conserve energy and help the PCB fight power theft. “Each time some illegal connection is made to our lighting system, an alert will be given to the central computer giving the exact location of the violation,” said PCB CEO A Bhaskar Reddy.
The system will help PCB rectify faults and short circuits within minutes. In case of a short circuit, the system will trip the specific line and automatically SMS the linesman about the fault. It will detect non-functional streetlights and pass a signal to the central computer.
With PCB running up an electricity bill of Rs 1 crore each year, the system will save up to Rs 45 lakhs. The overall maintenance costs of the street lighting system will also come down and according to analysis PCB will save about Rs 6-7 crores over the next ten years.
The PCB is also planning to engage in carbon trading to take credit of the saved power. “We are in talks with UK-based companies who are keen to buy carbon credits from us. We will be passing them more information about the project soon,” said Doshi.