Is lamp monitoring necessary for Energy saving in Street lighting ?

Why not lamp monitoring ?

Recently many municipal corporations has started asking for lamp monitoring systems for automation and energy conservation in street lighting.

But according to my knowledge 'Lamp monitoring' should be used for only critical areas, where single non working luminary can make a huge difference, like in critical defense areas of military warehouse etc.

why lamp monitoring should not be installed in municipal corporations ?

1) Actually there is no need to monitor individual lamp.

2) Lamp monitoring needs installation in each lamp, which is very expensive.

3) Lamp monitoring increase data management burden on website which needs more         bandwidth and storage, again costlier than loop or segment management.

4) More devices increases chances of filer.

5) Individual lamp monitoring increase programming and monitoring activities for observer.

6) Each installation adds it's consumption which is not used for illumination.

7) Connectivity failure may affect the performance of roadway lightnings. 

why loop or circuit monitoring should be used in municipal corporations ?

1) Only one installation per circuit or loop needed, Less installations means lower cost.

2) Less installation means lower chances of failure.

3) Less Data storage space, communication bandwidth required.

4) Less consumption as less intermediaries involved.

5) More part of energy is used for illumination only.

6) Consumption report can infer about non-working or faulty luminaries in the circuits.

7) Less programming and settings as no individual lamp need to be programmed.

By overall view we can conclude, although lamp monitoring is latest technology, for countries like India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other developing countries, it is very expensive and not as useful as loop or circuit monitoring and control.

Vadodara Municipal Corporation got National awards for Energy conservation in street lighting

Vadodara Municipal Corporation got the national award for Energy conservation in street lighting second time in just 3 years.
Just read what the BEE presentation talks about our street light controller.
Microprocessor Based Intelligent Street Light Controller. (Implemented in the year2008 – Low Cost Saving) VMC has implemented energy efficiency approach in new street light projects in the year 2008 with lighting design approach. Most important feature of this project is Installation of Microprocessor Based Intelligent Street Light Controller with GSM technology for data transfer, remote operation & monitoring of streetlight (SCADA).



Function of Microprocessor Based Intelligent Street Light Controlleris:
1. switch ON & switch OFF timings at preprogrammed time, which will take care of seasonal variations (table 1.6A).
2. Voltage reduction after 11.00 P.M. (i.e. during low traffic density timings) which gives savings of approximately 40%.
3. Remote operation & monitoring from central computer.
4. All electrical parameters transferred to central computer after switching ON.
5. Non working luminaries can be monitored from current (Amp.) at central computer. Control room operator can pass on the instructions to the maintenance team without doing physical patrolling.
6. In case of fault, energy saver unit generate & send SMS to the concerned person looking after maintenance of that area.
7. In case of emergency, streetlights connected with GSM technology can be switched ON/OFF.
8. Day to day monitoring of energy consumption.

News on Ministry of Industry and Trade's official Site:
http://tietkiemnangluong.com.vn/en/energy-database/vmc-bags-national-energy-conservation-award-34-10556.html

Or on Times of India's site:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/VMC-bags-National-Energy-Conservation-Award/articleshow/7095298.cms

Why not dimmable ballast / dimming ballast ?

Low cost Energy saving systems for existing sodium lamp.

Why not electronic dimmable ballast?

Now a day’s people more concerned to reduce CO2 and reduce the Carbon Footprint within the Lighting Industry. We have discussed a few ways of doing this. One of the options is to introduce an energy management system that would control and monitor the street lighting. The important parts of this process is to have electronic ballast that is available to be integrated into this system. The capital outlay to install cost of these systems is very high. The savings are as equally to 7 to 10 % for higher wattage lamp and 20 to 30 % in lower wattage lamp. And overall the reliability of electronics ballast is very less compare to normal switchgear. Replacement cost will be increased by electronic ballast cost and its fitting/replacement mounting cost and scraping old ballasts.

Why centralized dimming system?

There is a very large quantity of Street Lights are installed which are still using Conventional Control Gear. If we use centralized dimming systems then there will be need to change any old control gears and ballast. If the systems incorporate with common power down mode. and optionally with voltage correction systems If where the installation In night time the streetlight voltage high up to 270 volt so it can be correct it to 220 to 240 volts which save around 10 % and also its increase the life of luminaries and by power down time at night 11 PM to early morning which saves around in range of 40 to 50 %. Total saving will be around 30 to 40 %. (User has to compromise in flux level reduction at low traffic hours.)

Energy saving advantages of Dimming in street lighting

Advantages of Dimming in street lighting

As in most of the metro cities staggering is not permitted because of its hindering zebra effect on the road, we concentrated on Power down mode for energy conservation.

And after experimenting precisely with the help of local government body in Vadodara, we found dimming more profitable to customer because of two reasons, 1) Increase in voltage at late night after decrease in industrial and domestic activities. and 2) As dimming as uniform to all the lamps, it saves more energy then switching off one phase (i.e 33% lamps).

In our experiment, we observed that an 18KWH load operated for 11 Hours and 15 minutes a night saved 36.25 % energy while operated 8 hours (10 P.M to 6 A.M) in dimming mode.

1. Uniform lighting while dimming - No hindering Zebra effect
2. Lamp life increased by 33 % - Lamp consumption / Annam reduction
3. No harmonics generated in convention systems - No disturbance to any communication
4. Improve power factor while dimming - Using energy efficiently
5. Return on investment with in 2 years - No long term investment
6. No change in existing installation - add the equipment & start saving energy
7. Working with normal lamp switchgear - No extra installation costs
8. Start saving with next day of installation - Instant effect
9. No need for special choke - No hidden costs to perform
10. Centralized dimming reduce components - Maintenance cost reduction

How to save energy in street lighting with staggering ?

Generally there is no or less traffic on the roads after mid night and before early morning. At that time we can save a lot energy by switching off one or two phase.
Hear is a simple calculation for understanding monitory benefits of staggering.
Or See the presentation "How Technology saves Energy."

For calculating the payback time period of the system described, we can go through the following calculations. Say considering 10 KW load Total Investment of Unit cost will be Rs.30,000/-

Total unit consumption
@ 12 hours/day will be 10 x 12 = 120 Units a day
@ 365 Days will be 365 x 120 units = 43800 Units/annum
@ Rs. 4 per Unit rate total billing will be 4 x 43800 = Rs. 175200/- annum.

Staggering One phase.

If we switch OFF only one phase @ 12 AM say for 6 hours a day then total working hours of three phase are 36 hours out of we can save 6 hours will be around 16 % + minimum longitude can save 4 % Total 20 % saving can be achieve entire operation.
@ 20 % of 175200 will be Rs.35040/-
@ Max the unit cost will be recovered in 11 months.

Staggering two phase.

If we switch OFF only one phase @ 12 AM and another phase @ 2AM say for 4 hours a day then total working hours of three phase are 36 hours out of we can save 10 hours will be around 27 % + minimum longitude can save 4 % Total 31 % saving can be achieve entire operation.
@ 31 % of 175200 will be Rs.54312/-
@ Max the unit cost will be recovered in 7 months.

Staggering alternate phase.

If we operate on only two phase and used alternate systems then switch OFF only one phase @ 12 AM for 6 hours a day then total working hours of two phase are 24 hours out of we can save 6 hours will be around 25 % + minimum longitude can save 4 % Total 29 % saving can be achieve of entire operation.
@ 29 % of 175200 will be Rs.50808/-
@ Max the unit cost will be recovered in 8 months.

Advantages

1) No frequent time to be change according to season.
2) Redundant Power supply to controller. Any phase up to 150 Volt controller will work and contactor will be operated up to 170 VAC
3) Real-Time Clock with very high life of more then 5 years. No Battery.
4) Individual phase output with MCB for protection.
5) Input out put terminal of 35 MM sq.
6) Power wiring of feeder pillar with ISI mark fire retardant cable.

How to save energy in street lighting with staggering.

Generally there is no or less traffic on the roads after mid night and before early morning. At that time we can save a lot energy by switching off one or two phase with street light controllers or dimmer choke or even with three normal timers for each phase.

Hear is a simple calculation for understanding monitory benefits of staggering with street light controller.
For example we consider a switching point of 10 KW load. Total Investment for street light controller with staggering facility and astronomical timer will be roughly $ 665 /-

Total unit consumption for 10KW load (according to Indian Environment)
@ 11 hours/day will be 10 x 11 = 11 Units a day
@ 365 Days will be 365 x 110 units = 40150 Units/Annam
@ $ 0.09 per Unit rate total billing will be $ 0.09 x 40150(Units) = $ 3561/- Annam.

If we Stagger only one phase at midnight to 6:00

Then total working hours of three phase are 33 hours out of we can save 6 hours will be around 18 % + minimum longitude can save 4 % Total 22 % saving can be achieve entire operation.
@ 20 % of $3561/- will be $ 784/-
@ Max the unit cost will be recovered in 10.5 (315 Days) months.

If we Stagger one phase at midnight to 6:00 and second one for 2:00 A.M to 6:00 A.M.

Then total working hours of three phase (33 hours) we can save 10 hours will be around 30 % + minimum longitude can save 4 % Total 34 % saving can be achieve entire operation.
@ 34 % of $3561 will be $ 1211/-
@ Max the unit cost will be recovered in 7 months.

We can use dimmer choke which we have to replace in every luminary.
The two basic problems with dimmer choke are
1. Absence of intelligence and real time clock. So it will dim luminary after decided hours (i.e. 3 hours after ON time) and ever faced supply problem it will again starts on full lode and dim luminary after decided hours (i.e. 3 hours after ON time). That will cost laps of saving for the day.
2. We have to replace choke in every luminary, that costs high along with maintenance.

We can also use three normal timer for staggering.
We can set staggering time in each phase with one timer as there is hard to find single timer with three individual phase control.

Still it can not operate differently each day. We have to stagger each phase everyday for proper use of every luminary. i.e. We can stagger Phase R for Midnight to 2 A.M., Phase Y for 2 A.M to 4 A.M., Phase B for 4 A.M to 6 A.M. . So we can have energy conservation equal to staggering one phase by street light controller.

Note: We have to change On/Off time quarterly or monthly basis or have to buy little costlier almanac timer.


Advantages of using Insu street light controller for staggering.

1) No frequent time adjustment according to season.
2) Redundant Power supply to controller. Any phase up to 150 Volt controller will work and contactor will be operated up to 170 VAC
3) Real-Time Clock with very high life of more then 5 years. No external Battery. 4) Individual phase output with MCB for protection.
5) Input out put terminal of 35 MM sq.
6) Power wiring of feeder pillar with ISI mark fire retardant cable.

Why to use Astronomical Timer.

Benefit of astronomical timer for street lighting systems

Now a day cost of producing electricity is rising,simultaneously users are increasing as cities are expanding.New electricity generation plant installation costs are very high. Hence our electricity mfg. is not coping up with demand. So in such a condition optimum utilization of energy, and preventing wastage is must. Energy conserved is energy produce.

In our observation in industries and city lighting systems, we found street light operation very complicated & difficult as Sun set & sun rise timings varies season to season. Street light ON hour varies from 9.00 hours (during summer ) to 13.00 hours (during winter). Ordinary electromechanical and digital time switches are incapable of taking care of such annual variation. For entire year sunrise and sunset time changes by about 3 hours (i.e 180 minutes). This quiet big variation can served if we operate street lighting operation with the sunset and sunrise changes. Also it will provide better lighting services over conventional systems. Ideal street lighting hours are 4050 to 4100 per year. We have found more than 75 % of street light switching operation are done manually and rest are done by electromechanical timer. In both the case operations of street lighting does not efficiently cope up with sunrise and sunset time changes.

In India majority street lighting timers are reprogrammed for time setting every 15 or 30 day basis. (If we adopt for 15 days time setting systems then total 30 minute per day and if we go for monthly time setting systems then total 60 minutes per day we have to compromise.) That will leads to a huge wastage of power.

If we calculate for one point of 15 kW then only 30 minutes of daily saving in energy can save Rs.10, 800/- annually. Unit rate calculated at Rs. 4/- Per KW/Hr (Total 30 minutes per day X 360 days / 60 minutes = 180 hours. 15 KW equals to Rs. 60/- hours.