Streetlight purchase expected to save town money

CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> As a way of reducing municipal energy costs, the Town Board has purchased all 620 streetlights that illuminate the roads within the town’s boundaries.

Town Board members approved the purchase of 493 street lights owned by National Grid at the board’s Dec. 2 meeting a twoyear-long process. On Monday, the board approved buying the remaining 127 lights which are owned by New York State Electric and Gas Corporation.

The cost of the initial purchase from National Grid was $480,459 with $10,464 additional costs in transition and transaction fees. Buying the lights owned by NYSEG cost the town $81,739.

The legislation allowing municipalities to buy their streetlights was passed in 2015. Once the agreements are approved by the state Public Service Commission, the town intends to replace the existing bulbs with LED technology.

According to Town Supervisor Philip Barrett, the purchases should reduce the town’s total energy costs by 60 or 65 percent. Barrett estimates it will take seven years to recoup the financial outlay.

“Once we reach that point, where we have secured the amount of money and savings to our initial capital, from that point forward the savings will be incurred by the town forever as long as there are streetlights,” he said. “The savings are powerful.”

At the Dec. 2 meeting, Barrett noted, because the authority allowing municipalities to buy streetlights outright is quite recent for the state there was little precedent that could be followed.

“We were careful and methodical with procurement process because there was no history to go by and there was very little direction from state agencies as to procurement,” he said of the initial purchase. “Once we switch to LED lighting we’ll eliminate significant facility costs.”

Barrett said there are two types of costs associated with streetlights, a usage bill and a facility charge for each light.

“Couple them together and it’s very expensive,” he said.

He added that the system being installed will be dark sky compliant. It’s something we’ve talked about since the beginning he said.

During the board discussion on the purchase from National Grid, Barrett noted that buying 620 streetlights as Clifton Park is doing is not a very large purchase when one considers other municipalities that are considering the move.

“Cities like Schenectady and Albany have thousands, and it will cost them millions to buy them,” he said.

Clifton Park was one of the first municipalities within the National Grid service area to embark on the process of LED transformation and purchase of the streetlights within its borders.

The town began the process of buying the lights in November 2017. It was then that the Town Board published a Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking proposals for a performance-based energy contract to replace its existing lighting with LED technology. The RFP also asked the bidder to execute the acquisition of the streetlight inventory within the town.

Following a lengthy review process, the Town Board unanimously approved the purchase of the streetlights from National Grid and NYSEG in March 2018. The board later selected the Siemens company to complete the project.

Barrett said the town went with Seimens because the company had completed other large conversion projects in the Northeast.

The construction phase of the process will involve Siemens replacing the old light bulbs in the streetlights with new LED tech

nology. With new technology, the network of lights and their current functioning level will be readily available for town personnel to view. A control node in each new light will allow the new lamp to be dimmed or brightened as necessary during a special event or emergency.

“This is a watershed moment in the process,”

Barrett said. “Now that we have two approved agreements with the two utilities we’d like to get this project started next year.”