The Directorate General of Lighthouse & Lightships (DGLL), a subordinate organization under the Ministry of Shipping, Govt. of India is presently maintaining 193 Lighthouses which provide aids to marine navigation to the mariners transiting in coastal waters of India.
Most of these Lighthouses were operating on the conventional source of energy i.e. Electricity and Diesel Generators which consume fossil fuel and emit high amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) thus increasing greenhouse effect and causing air pollution. Generation of 1 Mega Watt Hour (MWh) power through fossil fuel leads to emission of approximately 900 Kg of Co2. In order to reduce CO2 emission, DGLL has decided to replace the source of energy utilized at lighthouses to renewable source and started harnessing solar energy to operate its lighthouses. Till date 176 Lighthouses have been fully solarized. The Directorate has planned to achieve complete solarization of all the Lighthouses by 31.12.2016. With this complete solarization, approximately 1.5 MWh energy will be generated which will amount to approximately reducing 6000 Kg of greenhouse gases per day.
On achieving complete solarization, all the Lighthouses under DGLL will be operating on Green Energy. This is a step in line with Government’s initiative to maximize the use of Green Energy for protection of environment besides making the Lighthouses operate on a reliable, resilient and renewable energy system and reduction of global warming emissions.