Consumer electronics firm Philips will export solar LED street lights, which it has developed in India, to neighbouring nations within next one year.
The company's Indian arm, Philips Electronics India, is currently executing a project for installing 19, 000 solar LED street lights in Tamil Nadu in association with Tata Power Solar and Su-kam.
"Solar is a very efficient mode of energy. The technology for solar LED street lights were developed in India and for India, " Philips Electronics India President (Lighting India) Nirupam Sahay told PTI.
The company has designed and developed the technology at its R&D centre at Noida keeping in mind the rural market, which has a big potential as electrification has not yet touched large number of villages across the country, he added.
"We are just executing about 19, 000 such street lights in Tamil Nadu and we are talking to more state governments on this front. These lights have big scope in cities also, " he said without sharing details.
When asked if the company would be interested to supply the technology to Philips' operations in other nations, Sahay said: "We are a global company. We (Indian operations) handle Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Within next one year, solar LED technology will go out of India, first to the neighbouring countries and later to other parts of the world. "
He, however, declined to share details such as which would be the first export market for this technology.
Elaborating the technology, Sahay said the company develops and manufactures the electronics and LED lights.
"We do not make the panels and batteries. For these, we have worked with Tata Power Solar and Su-kam for the Tamil Nadu project, " he added.
The technology helps the company with options to connect each light post with a single battery or a set of street lights can be run from a centrally controlled solar panel and battery, Sahay said.
On whether the company would continue the relationship with its current partners, he said it would depend on the nature of the future project and customer.
When asked about the company's revenue expectation from the LED division, he declined to comment saying India is moving towards "white solar street lights".
"The entire Indian lighting market is estimated to be Rs 9, 000 crore and we enjoy 30 per cent share of it. We are in the premium segment, " Sahay said.
