Replacement of HPS Luminaires with LED Luminaires for the Lighting Requirements of an Outdoor Electrical Substation

High Pressure Sodium (HPS) luminaires are the traditional luminaires used to illuminate outdoor electrical substations. The more energy efficient ‘Light Emitting Diode’ (LED) luminaires have become the primary option to replace these energy inefficient HPS luminaires in substations as part of the drive to make buildings/processes more energy efficient. Currently, however, more LED luminaires are typically required to achieve the same lighting level. As such, the paper below compares the lighting design of two distribution substations using both HPS luminaires and LED luminaires. The paper begins with applicable background on substation design, substation lighting requirements, technical luminaire specifications and luminaire placement. The lighting design is undertaken on DIALux lighting design software. Finally, once an equivalent lighting design is completed using both luminaires, a life cycle cost analysis is forecasted to compare the performance of HPS vs LED luminaires. The design with the LED luminaires was shown to have a lower life cycle cost due to the energy savings and reduced maintenance activities over the installed service life.