Welland to replace all street lights with LEDs

The City Council in Welland, Ontario, Canada, has voted unanimously in favor of a recommendation to completely replace the city’s streetlights with LED fixtures.

The Council has approved entering into an agreement with SSL Energy Solutions and Appalachian Lighting Systems Inc. (ALSI) to replace the existing street lighting system throughout the City with ALSI’s ALLED fixtures equipped with the ALLink control system.

The Council also approved financing of the capital cost of CAN$2.74 million through a debenture. This will be paid back by utilizing the savings from the program. The LED retrofit program is expected to reduce street-lighting energy costs by $221,553 and street-lighting maintenance costs by $159,250 in year one.

Phase 1 of the project will include the replacement of 4300 Cobra-head high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures, as follows:

• 661 units of 100W HPS replaced with 30W LED fixtures
  
• 1574 units of 135W HPS replaced with 30W LED fixtures
  
• 1063 units of 190W HPS replaced with 50W LED fixtures
  
• 983 units of 285W HPS replaced with 77W LED fixtures
  
• 19 units of 485W HPS replaced with 120W LED fixtures

The ALLED SSL fixtures are equipped with ALLink monitoring and control system and software, enabling the lights to be remotely monitored and controlled from a computer or handheld device. The full Phase 1 installation is expected to be complete by April 2012. Phase 2 will consist of the replacement of 2410 decorative fixtures.

Welland estimates that the total cost of operating its current HPS-based lighting system will amount to almost $18 million over 15 years, which is the “estimated true cost of doing nothing.” By switching to LED lighting, the City will save a total of $6.8 million in operating costs. After paying the various charges including debt repayments, the city will save a net amount of $2.38 million over the 15-year term of the agreement.

Also, the City will reduce its annual carbon emissions from 2.1 million kg CO₂ to 541,000 kg CO₂. The project document says that the City might also benefit from carbon-credit sales

Welland staff led by David Ferguson, Manager of Traffic, Parking & Bylaw Operations, began reviewing LED lighting in 2007 when staff identified that the current street-lighting infrastructure was becoming outdated and in need of replacement.

When the entire project is completed in December 2012, the municipality believes it will become the first in North America to have completely converted its entire street-lighting network to LEDs.