Company’s plan may bring 300 jobs
Streetlight replacement project could include Wi-Fi devices
A software solutions provider has made a “soft” commitment to bring $10 million worth of investments to Yuma, including a network operations center and 300 high-paying jobs. The public/private partnership is tied to the city’s streetlight replacement project.
Mayor Doug Nicholls made the announcement at the City Council’s work session Tuesday, noting that anyCOMM wants to open a network operations center, the first of four such centers across the nation, with Yuma as the primary center.
The investment is tied to the citywide LED (light-emitting diode) streetlight replacement project, which is part of the Capital Improvement Program approved by the council with a budget of $3.2 million for 2017. Working with Siemens Industries, the city wants to convert streetlights to the energy-efficient fixtures.
Matt Vaccaro, Siemens senior account executive, updated the council on the project. It will cost an estimated $3.7 million over 10 years, with a lifecycle savings of $5.4 million, Vaccaro said.
The LED streetlights come with a 10-year warranty, a “huge” reduction in costs due to the long life of LEDs that require less maintenance and labor (no con-
stant replacement of bulbs). The annual cost savings is estimated at $344,805.
The company ran a request for proposals with contractors and did streetby-street surveys and engineering analysis to come up with the cost of installing the lights. The company looked at how much electricity the streetlights use and what the city spends as well as considered a utility rebate offered by Arizona Public Service, which is estimated at $450,000. The annual estimated energy savings would be between $205,000 and $225,000.
Siemens guarantees financial outcomes, Vaccaro said.
Opportunity to become a ‘Smart City’
As part of the streetlight replacement project, Yuma has the opportunity to place wireless sensor devices manufactured by anyCOMM atop the streetlights. Nicholls explained that the devices are capable of bringing in 5G and 6G whenever they’re rolled out for cell phone networks and provide seamless Wi-Fi internet access throughout the city.
“That’s why this streetlight replacement project is pretty significant for us,” Nicholls said. “Without this CIP, we don’t have this opportunity.”
The anyCOMM devices could be incorporated into the streetlight project through the city’s agreement with Siemens. This part of the project has yet to come forward for council’s review and possible approval.
Yuma would be the second city in the nation, behind San Jose, Calif., to have this technology. It would be “the envy of all the other state-cities … We get to lead in this area,” Nicholls said.
Vaccaro said this “forward-thinking project” is an opportunity for Yuma to be a “smart city” and a leader in Arizona and the nation. Vaccaro explained that the replacement project will reduce budget costs and bring in new revenues.
As for the “energy power boxes” made by anyCOMM, they could bring a lot of “action-packed” technology to the city, Vaccaro said. The internet-connected devices can collect a lot of data from city streets. They are equipped with 360-degree HD cameras on each of the four sides, which can help public safety personnel with facial recognition, gunshot and vandalism investigations and even detecting earthquakes, he said.
The anyCOMM network center would monitor the devices, but such incidents as gunshots and car crashes can go directly to police dispatch.
Some council members noted that some homeowners might consider the cameras intrusive. Vaccaro said the cameras can be turned on and off. However, Councilor Bill Craft said he wouldn’t mind the surveillance on his property. Vaccaro said individual property owners might be able to negotiate with the city to have cameras turned on in front of their properties.
Features also include lighting control, energy reduction with demand response, sub-metering at each light pole and even the possibility of placing car charging systems on poles. External environmental sensors could collect data on air quality, chemical detection and temperature, with a heat tolerance of up to 188 degrees.
The city could also be able to bring in revenues as the device is ready to accommodate mobile carriers. Everybody can have space in the box and cell companies will pay to have access, translating to a new revenue source, Vaccaro said.
Currently in many cities, streetlight poles are becoming “frankenpoles” or “vertical real estate” as “everybody wants to hang stuff on them.” The devices have the ability to be a micro cellular repeater and could easily generate revenues to the city, Vaccaro said.
With this technology the city could potentially eliminate cell towers and make it easy for a cell company to populate the city with 5G, Nicholls noted.