Siemens has reached the halfway point in its streetlight retrofit project for the city of Manchester, having installed over 4,500 energy efficient LED streetlights across New Hampshire’s largest city.
The full project installation of 9,000 new LED streetlights, nearly a month ahead of schedule, will result in over $500,000 annually in energy and maintenance savings, reduce energy usage by 60 percent compared to existing streetlights, and provide citizens with clearer lighting conditions to improve visibility and safety. The project, through an agreement between the city of Manchester, Eversource, and the Public Utilities Commission, will also qualify for a $400,000 rebate from local electric utility Eversource.
“It’s great to see this project progress and reach the expected benchmarks. Converting the city’s street lighting to LED is important to modernizing city infrastructure and once we have completed this phase I look forward to exploring bringing the LED technology to our city parks and other facilities,” said Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas.
“This is a noteworthy milestone and we are very pleased to be supporting this initiative,” said Paul Ramsey, Eversource vice president of engineering – New Hampshire. “Ultimately, the city residents will benefit from energy efficient lighting technology that will provide cost savings. It’s nice to see this collaborative effort pay off.”
The installation, begun in April 2015, was based on an agreement between the city of Manchester and local electric utility Eversource. This agreement allows Siemens to remove the existing streetlights and install and maintain the new, more energy efficient LED lights. The installations are being performed by eight Siemens electricians, including seven city of Manchester residents hired through IBEW Local 490. The 9,000 LED streetlights have been carefully selected to provide the appropriate amount of lighting for various locations across the City and focus light directly downward on the streets and sidewalks.
“We’re proud to be a technology partner for the city of Manchester to bring new LED streetlights that will not only help the city reduce energy costs and become more efficient, but provide residents with clearer lights that can result in a safer community,” said Steve Gitkin, head of sales for Siemens Intelligent Traffic Systems. “Consistent with our commitment to excellence, Siemens is pleased to report that we’re currently ahead of schedule in completing our installations and using local workers to complete a project that is of great local importance.”
The city of Manchester project is slated for completion in September 2015.
