Solar lamps to illuminate Chennai slums

Chennai, Apr 20 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government has chalked out a plan to install 18-watt power solar street lights across the slum areas in the city.

While inaugurating the city's first set of solar street lights last night here, Chennai Corporation Mayor M Subramanian said the installation of these lights would also usher in a new method of controlling street light supply.

''The solar-powered street lights have been proposed for slum areas with narrow roads and would be set up at one location each in all ten zones,'' he added.

According to the officials, the standard 20-watt street light uses about 19 units of electricity per day. The use of one solar-powered lamp as replacement would save more than 500 units per month.

Currently, all of the over 1.2 lakh street lights in the city function on electricity drawn from Tamil Nadu Electricy Board (TNEB) lines.

The officials also pointed out that with the installation of these solar street lights, the cost incurred by the government was expected to come down to about Rs 11.40 lakh.

The solar street lamps were part of the state's efforts at harnessing the renewable sources of energy.

UNI SNR SJ SLD HT1520