LEDs light up RGIA airfield

GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd. (GHIAL), which operates Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), has announced that the entire Airfield Ground Lighting (AGL) signage has been converted from CFL (compact fluorescent lamp) to LED (light emitting diode) lamps on Monday.

About 132 units of AGL signage were converted to LED in two weeks with over 350 LED strips of 10W power retrofitted. All these installations meet the mandatory regulatory requirement and maintain the required photometry level as per the operational needs. These signages are deployed across around 1,700 acres of the airside, a press note said.

LEDs have a life span of over 50,000 running hours and 90% less power consumption than incandescent bulbs, reducing power cost and saving energy. With the latest upgrade, RGIA would save almost 45% energy over conventional lights. The energy thus saved will reduce the airport’s dependency on traditional non-renewable sources of energy, slashing the greenhouse gas emission, translating to reduction of over 20,000 kg of CO2 per annum.

Airfield Ground Lighting Signage acts as a guidance post to help pilots in identifying the location of their aircraft while at the airside and also while taxiing to the designated areas. “We are fast progressing towards turning RGIA into a 100% LED airport with conversion of AGL signage into LED being the first step. We have also enhanced our captive solar power capacity from 5 MW to 10MW to meet the entire energy requirement of terminal building during daytime. In recognition of our effort, Airports Council International under its Airport Carbon Accreditation has certified us with carbon neutrality status (Level 3 + Neutrality) for 2017,” said CEO SGK Kishore.

Recently, RGIA converted its entire taxiway edge lights from conventional lamps to LED, becoming the first airport in south India to do so. In fact, the entire land-side of the airport has been converted to LED, he added.