KOCHI: Even though the City Corporation has adopted a policy in favour of energy savings, programmes proposed for energy conservation have not been tackled for a couple of years. While the civic body is struggling to control increasing power bills, proposals like replacing streetlights with LED lamps and conducting an energy audit have not come about. No follow-up measures were taken to realise the solar and wind energy powered street lighting system announced in several budgets during the previous council’s term.
“In 2014, the state government had asked KSUDP wing (Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project) to chalk out an annuity scheme for energy conservation which will be undertaken by EESL (Energy Efficiency Services Limited) a consortium of PSUs in the energy sector. However, the project still remains in the conceptual stage,” said a top civic official. Several proposals were made under the project including setting up modern censors and automatic switching system to reduce energy consumption of streetlights.
Meanwhile, Corporation Town Planning Committee chairperson Shainy Mathew told DC that as per the state government’s instruction, the traditional sodium vapor lamps would be replaced with LED lights. “When new tenders are floated, it will be for LED lights. However, there is opposition from certain sections against the proposal citing that LED lights are more expensive,” she said. The civic body has asked KSEB to install timers in all street lights within the city limits.
Though timers have been fitted with streetlights in some of the areas, the lights have to be manually operated in other areas. The system will ensure that there is no wastage of power. But in many areas, streetlights burn even during daytime as there is no proper switching system. Though Kochi has been selected for the Union government-funded Solar City project which aims at promoting the use of renewable energy sources in urban areas, none of the proposals has been implemented.
