Talks on converting sodium lights to LED ongoing

DAVAO Light Power Corporation (DLPC), a subsidiary of the AboitizPower, is currently finalizing talks with the Davao City government on their plan to convert the lamp post lights in the city from highpressure sodium to LED lights to reduce power consumption.

"It's a joint project of the city with Davao Light. The objective is reduction of power consumption because LED is brighter but with less energy," said DLPC Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Rodger Velasco.

They demonstrated using LED lights for the lamp posts along C.M. Recto and San Pedro Streets utilizing about 100 lights. The streets are still using the same LED lights until now. If pushed through, they target that the project would use about 40,000 LED lights for the entire city.

He said whether the use of LED lights be permanent will have yet to be discussed with the city government of Davao.

Specifics of the current direction of the project cannot be disclosed, according to Velasco, as agreements are still being finalized.

Velasco said this joint project with the government started last year.

"But LED during those times were still very expensive. Now it's maturing and the prices are going down. We studied it further and we think this is the right time already. It was P120,000 per light before, now it’s averaging only about P14,000 to P18,000 depending on the wattage," he added.