Noida traffic lights going solar

 

The traffic light of Noida are planned to be solarised within 2 weeks time span. As the traffic snarls were found to be increasing the growing concern made Noida Authority and the district traffic police to minimize this. Presently 38 of the total 79 signals are powered by solar energy.

The plan was initially proposed about 5 years back and about 25 traffic signals maintained by the Authority were powered by solar energy at that time. The matter of extending was recently approved in the Authority’s board meeting. The final outcome may be out within a fortnight. The main reason is the recent collapse of major power grids and the resultant failure of traffic signals. Therefore authorities have decided to take a step forward to ensure a “100 percent power back-up arrangement.”

On the matter Mr Sanjiv Saran, CEO, Noida Authority said “Frequent power disruption in Noida often leads to non-functioning of traffic signals at various intersections causing inconvenience to both commuters as well as the traffic police. Once all signals are run by solar energy, this problem will be solved”. Sun being the source of energy therefore the system can be lighted uninterruptedly thus preventing traffic chaos.. The cost of converting a traffic signal into a solar powered one is between Rs12 lakh and Rs15 lakh. However, this is much more than the cost of installing a regular traffic signal. But in the long run, solar panels offer significant savings on energy consumption and cost Adding saran said “These are easy to maintain and eventually they turn out to be more economical,”

Meanwhile, to streamline traffic flow, “particularly during peak hours,” traffic police is proposing to upgrade computerized area traffic control system.

(Source: Times of India)