The Clean Energy Ministerial’s SEAD Initiative, with support from CLASP, is working with Indian city governments and local partners to train municipalities on the use of SEAD’s Street Lighting Tool to identify energy efficient and cost-effective options for upgrading street lights.

A large number of India’s Urban Local Bodies have either inadequate or poor street lighting and incur high maintenance costs, often amounting to 10-15% of a typical municipal budget. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) of India also reports that 1% of all electricity consumed in India – equal to 6.7 TWh in 2010-11 – goes to provide public lighting. However, retrofitting street lights can create 25-60% in energy savings by using efficient technologies and better design practices.

Accelerating energy efficiency in infrastructure development projects – specifically to help meet rapidly growing municipal energy demands at the national level – is a focus area in India’s 12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017). India’s Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), along with its state partners, is leading the advancement of municipal energy efficiency programs in the country. In support of this goal, SEAD convened an Energy Efficient Street Lighting Stakeholder Consultation Meeting in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on March 21, 2013. The one-day workshop was attended by 59 individuals, including municipal, state, and national government officials, lighting experts, project implementers, energy service companies, finance institutions, and members of standards bodies.

Chennai was chosen as the workshop’s location because Tamil Nadu’s government has prioritized the implementation of efficient street lighting projects and proposed to form a “State Energy Conservation Mission.” The state has participated in a number of activities aimed at building capacity and readiness for municipal-level energy efficiency project implementation. The Directorate of Municipal Administration is in the process of designing an energy efficient street lighting program for selected municipalities. Efforts continue to raise awareness and build capacity in Indian municipalities to encourage the installation of energy efficient street lighting or retrofitting existing lighting systems to improve efficiency. As follow up to the Consultation Meeting, CLASP and the SEAD Initiative provided training sessions on the Street Lighting Tool in four regional workshops (Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and Chandighar) on LED lighting organized by the Electric Lamp and Component Manufacturers Association of India (ELCOMA) in 2014 and 2014. CLASP and the SEAD Initiative are also working with government officials in Canada and Mexico to integrate the SEAD street lighting tool into national and regional lighting programs. In Canada, SEAD is working the utility BC Hydro and other stakeholders to develop a provincial procurement process for LED street lights. In Mexico, CLASP and SEAD are supporting the National Commission for Energy Efficiency (CONUEE) to deploy the Street Lighting Tool as part of a national public lighting program to support 200 municipalities in transitioning to more efficient lighting.

Learn more about SEAD’s Street Lighting Tool.