This summer, Puget Sound Energy will begin installing street light control capabilities in two area cities. These LED luminaires with top-mounted controls are also known as Smart Street Lighting. Using the innovative outdoor lights saves money, helps the environment, and the technology improves the customer experience.
Additionally, the technology gives PSE municipal customers more choice on how they light up their roads and communities. The new lighting allows PSE to measure energy consumption and use adaptive controls to lower usage in specific locations and during certain times throughout the day. Additionally, enhanced safety measures include real-time outage alerts so PSE can respond to street light outages faster.
One of the communities soon benefiting from Smart Street Light Controls is the city of Edgewood, with a new LED street light installation slated to begin in July. The project will include the installation of about 50 smart street light controls.
“The City of Edgewood is excited to partner with PSE to incorporate smart technology for immediate two-way communications and control of our street lights,” says Edgewood Mayor Daryl Eidinger. “This control will give us feedback for malfunctions and allow us to reduce our usage and our carbon footprint.”
This project spans both residential and commercial areas, with most lights located in residential neighborhoods. Smart street lights can be instantly turned on and off or dimmed for benefits like energy conservation or reducing light pollution at night.
“LED lights consume less energy than their High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) counterparts,” says Account Management Supervisor at Puget Sound Energy Rachel King. “Smart Street Light Controls allow for additional energy savings through city-requested dimming in specific areas during specific hours.”
The ability to monitor each light’s performance means broken and failing lights can be quickly identified and repaired. Because smart street lights can operate more efficiently, customers will optimize their energy use, lower costs and reduce the carbon footprint in each community that adopts this type of lighting. By utilizing this technology, PSE can meet the needs of their customers while helping the environment.
“Our lighting customers told us they wanted more control over their energy usage to save money and reduce carbon, and this technology will help meet both those needs,” says PSE’s Director of Product Development and Growth Will Einstein. “New technology such as smart street lights will help us partner with our customers to meet their goals and improve the customer experience.”
The customer benefits include real-time performance monitoring for outages or malfunction, energy measurement that would facilitate metered billing instead of flat-rate billing, and the ability to request PSE adjust the light levels with remote control dimming. The dimming feature is a significant advantage since it helps use less energy.
Also, LEDs are a more reliable, longer-lasting and modern-looking solution for roadway lighting. With the added benefit of Smart Street Light Controls, PSE will now have real-time remote monitoring capabilities and will be able to proactively resolve any street light outages without waiting for customers to report the issue.
The innovative technology will also be rolling out in another community within PSE’s service area. The City of Bellevue is also among the first cities to receive the installations. This summer, PSE will be replacing around 300 roadway lights in some of Bellevue’s arterial roadways with LED lights as part of the city’s overall effort to reduce its carbon footprint.
“We value innovation as a community and so appreciate that PSE partnered with Bellevue as one of the first two cities to receive new smart street lights,” says Mayor Lynne Robinson. “In addition to energy efficiency and cost savings, it has the potential to help PSE respond more quickly to burned-out lights owned by the company. It will be a positive safety boost for our Vision Zero effort to eliminate serious injury and fatal crashes on city streets by 2030.”
Other cities within PSE’s service area will also be able to engage with PSE on controls. PSE has partnered with Landis + Gyr to equip 25,000 street lights with smart controls over five years.
This is another way PSE is working together with customers to create a clean energy future for all, as the company has also set an aspirational goal to be a Beyond Net Zero Carbon company by 2045. PSE will target reducing its carbon emissions to net-zero and go beyond by helping other sectors enable carbon reduction across the state. Partnering with municipalities in its service area will help towards that mission.
For more information on the Smart Street Light Controls Program, visit Puget Sound Energy’s website.
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