Wind-cum-solar powered streetlights in Yelamanchili soon

VISAKHAPATNAM: Wind-cum-solar powered streetlights will illuminate parts of Yelamanchili town in Visakhapatnam district by February-end. As many as 210 streetlights in the town will get power from solar and wind energy.
The town has about 4,200 streetlights. Visakha Dairy is funding the new project.
Bangalore-based BGR Infrastructure Pvt Ltd is erecting solar panels and wind mills to generate 15 kw of power.Of this, five kw is generated from wind energy.
Company engineer M Sivaraj said “the wind-cum-solar powered centralized streetlight project in Yelamanchili is the first of its kind in Andhra Pradesh. Wind power will be used as a backup facility. Yelamanchili is a `windy’ town, he added.
Municipal commissioner S Srinivasa Rao said the civic body will save about Rs 4 lakh per annum on the power bill. “The municipality did not spend a single penny on this eco-friendly project. Visakha Dairy came forward to financially support it,” Rao added.
Yelamanchili chairperson P Rama Kumari said Visakha Dairy chairman Adari Tulasi Rao contributed Rs 40 lakh for the streetlight project in the town.
“In fact, we tested a pilot project with 10 solar-powered streetlights after cyclone Hudhud.
It was quite successful. We are now replicating it on a largescale,” Rama Kumar added.
PV Rama Raju, manager of Visakhapatnam district unit of New and Renewable Energy Development Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (NEDCAP), said an area with wind blowing capacity of 15 metres per second is ideal for a wind energy project. Bheemili in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) is among the places in north coastal Andhra where wind energy projects can be set up. “We need to study the wind pattern in Yelamanchili town,” he said.