Application of LED technology into public road lighting in Malaysia for replacing the high pressure sodium vapour lighting

The `Light Emitting Diode´ (LED) is not a new technology, however, it is used widely in many related products and being adopted in our daily life. However, for the street lighting system, LED technology is not fully accepted at the moment to replace the `High Pressure Vapour Sodium´ (HPSV) street light which has been used throughout the country. Due to sudden increment in operating costs and energy supply tariff, this technology starts to gain its consideration because of its ability in saving the energy. The street lighting system involves relative complex specification especially in terms of safety, therefore, the LED street light is still at its initial level. In Malaysia, the first pilot project in implementing the LED street lighting system was installed at federal road with 6-lane dual carriageway by the local authority. The pilot project focuses on the structure of the road and the on site lighting measurements. The aim of this paper is to study on the ability to identify whether the LED street lights can meet the specification requirements mentioned in MS-825. As a result, the comparison is made between HPSV and LED street lights are capable to satisfy the specification requirements. In addition, from the `Return on Investment´ (ROI) shows that the paybacks can be achieved within 5 years which under warranty period by the manufacturer or supplier. This proves that the proposed of replacing HPSV with LED street light is reasonable.