NXP and Avni Energy Solutions to develop LED based street lighting solutions for India

BANGALORE, INDIA: NXP Semiconductors and Avni Energy Solutions Pvt. Ltd. have collaborated to develop innovative Light Emitting Diode (LED) based street lighting solutions for India that can replace the commonly used high-pressure sodium vapour lamps which consume substantially more electricity.

The LED street light installations have been deployed by the Tirupati and Pulivendula Municipal Corporations in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This lighting solution is based on NXP’s SSL1750 SMPS controller IC, a highly integrated IC and part of NXP’s GreenChip product portfolio that has helped achieve power savings in the range of 60-70 percent over the traditional lamps used, resulting in lower operating costs.

The pilot project was recently implemented in Andhra Pradesh, entailing the installation of 400 lamp posts in Pulivendula and 250 lamp posts in Tirupati respectively.

These lamps contain a set of 35–56 LEDs per panel (lamp), and consume between 50–70W of electricity. Furthermore, the NXP solution enables the flow of current to be accurately controlled, allowing for unprecedented dimming capabilities that save additional energy during periods when there is little or no traffic.

The SSL1750 IC offers a high level of integration that enables lighting manufacturers to create high-quality LEDs, maximizing energy efficiency and minimizing form factor through reduced heat generation, thereby enabling cost-effective power supply designs and extended lifetimes beyond 50,000 hours.

This solution has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 115kg per lamp per year, and save approximately 160 W of power per lamp, which is enough to light up almost four homes using CFLs.

To illustrate the potential of this solution, replacing 5 million existing sodium vapour lamps equates to the power required to light up 20 million homes, which is a significant saving considering the acute power shortages in India. In addition, 5 million LED street lamps would reduce carbon emissions by 575,000 tonnes per year.

The market for LED lighting is expected to grow significantly in coming years. According to industry estimates, there is potential demand for up to 5 million units per state for street lighting solutions in India.

The lighting industry is going through some major changes driven largely by concerns over climate change and the desire to use energy resources more efficiently. There are ongoing efforts driven by governments, civic bodies and utilities to serve the public with better lighting and reduce carbon footprints while reducing energy costs.

Both governments and consumers are looking towards more efficient lighting options such as compact-fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and solid-state-lighting (SSL) to achieve these savings.

Ashok Chandak, senior director, global sales and marketing, NXP Semiconductors said: "The switch to low-energy solid state lighting is now a top priority for governments and enterprises across the world. The LED based street lighting solutions implemented in Andhra Pradesh is a case in point and illustrates the use of innovative semiconductor technologies to significantly help ease the burden that civic authorities face with regards to energy usage and maintenance of illuminated highways and streets.

"Using the NXP solution, sufficient lighting can now be maintained while operating at significantly lower levels of electrical consumption, without the authorities having to switch off street lighting (which creates safety hazards) to save energy consumption."

"NXP is indeed one of the first semiconductor companies to identify the importance of energy-efficient lighting, and has made lighting a focus for more than 15 years," added Chandak while launching the campaign to bring light to millions of homes and reduce our carbon footprint through the use of innovative lighting technology solutions.

Kiran Kumar Reddy, Managing Director, Avni Energy Solutions remarked: “We are pleased to partner with NXP, which has supported us in closely developing a highly competitive and energy-efficient solution based on Solid State Lighting technologies.

"SSL1750 is a highly innovative and integrated solution that allows cost-effective power supply designs and significant power factor correction in the range of 0.9 - 0.95*, which leads the industry in terms of efficiency. The functionalities available in this solution will help us garner a competitive edge in our product portfolio."

To date, NXP has sold over 300 million fluorescent lighting driver ICs, helping to save an estimated 500 million kg of CO2 per year, compared with more traditional lighting solutions.

As one of the first semiconductor companies to recognize the growing importance of energy-efficient lighting, NXP has been active in the development of ballast control and driver ICs since 1992, supporting the development of solutions for all markets – from residential, office, retail and architectural lighting, to lighting for cars, streets and roads.