New Delhi, March 9 (IANS) In a bid to conserve energy, the capital's main civic agency Tuesday launched the country's first remote-controlled street lights that can be switched on and off using an internet-enabled main server located in the heart of the city.

The first phase of this street light upgradation project, under the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), became operational Tuesday and covers a distance of 101 km on 52 city roads.

These include main roads like Lodhi Road, Bhishma Pitamah Marg, Jawaharlal Nehru Marg, Panchkuian Road, Asaf Ali Road and various link roads to the Ring Road. In the first phase, 2,235 light poles have been erected.

'The system is based on global satellite monitoring (GSM) and general packet radio service (GPRS) on which the mobiles work. While the system eliminates manual or timer based operation of street lights, the lights are automatically turned on and off according to the sunrise and sunset time. This conserves energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions,' said MCD Commissioner K.S. Mehra.

Mayor Kanwar Sain and Mehra inaugurated the project at the MCD's Ambedkar Stadium office Tuesday.

The central server operating the project is located at the MCD's Civic Centre office on Minto Road.

The project is being implemented by a consortium of companies -- Phillips Electronics Ltd, BP Project Pvt Ltd and Sweka Power-Tech Engineers Pvt Ltd. Delhi-based Sweka is responsible for developing the software and related technology.

MCD's supervising engineer D.K. Sugan, who is in charge of the project, told IANS that the second phase of the project, covering an additional 157 km and 107 roads, is slated to be completed by May.

'The unique system has not been used in India before. Some European cities have used the same system. The main objective of using it here is to ensure that energy is saved. In event of any fault or a power theft from a feeder pillar, the alarm will go off in the main server and an SMS will be sent to the area's maintenance staff for correction,' he explained.

The system server will provide a report of operative and non-operative street lights also.

Each feeder pillar, powering approximately 70-80 lights, will be controlled by a device that has a SIM card with GPRS connectivity. The new system also facilitates auto-remote metering of energy consumption and can monitor power quality such as low or high voltage or frequency. The lights can be simultaneously be turned on or off during bad weather or traffic conditions.

The MCD has spent Rs.3.2 million on the project.

Once the second phase is completed, the status of the lights on individual roads shall be available to the public on the MCD's website - www.mcdonline.gov.in.