Incandescent bulbs, fluorescent tubes, and all and sundry other energy inefficient street lighting across the country will be replaced with LED lamps in another two years.
Piyush Goyal, the minister for new and renewable energy, has stated that the initiative will be part of Domestic Efficient Lighting Program of the government.
The minister was addressing the first foundation day celebrations of Association of Renewable Energy Agencies of the States (AREAS) in Bengaluru.
The LED based home and street lighting programme was launched in January this year.
Under the plan 100 cities were to be covered by next March and the remaining areas brought into the fold by March 2019. It would require replacement of 77 crore ordinary bulbs and 3.5 crore conventional street lights.
India has 3.5 crore street lights according to an estimate.
Studies have projected that the country can cut its energy load from 3,400 megawatt hours to 1,400 megawatt hours by replacing conventional lights with LED based street lights.
It would translate to saving of 9,000 million units annually worth Rs 5,500 crore to municipalities annually.
Ajith Kumar S