The City of Port Alberni will soon be much better lit by this fall, following the city tendering the purchase of new LED light fixtures to low-bidder Eecol at a cost of $126,947.
City engineer Guy Cicon submitted a report outlining the city’s planned replacement of 525 core metal pole streetlights.
“The 2016 streetlight upgrade project involves the replacement of the 525 core metal pole lights. The 100 watt, 150 watt and 250 watt high pressure sodium fixtures will be replaced with 48 watt to 138 watt LED fixtures,” Cicon’s report stated.
“The anticipated energy savings will be $35,000 per year.”
The city has a total of 1,692 streetlights—525 core metal streetlights, 107 decorative metal poles, 60 parking lot lights and about 1,000 B.C. Hydro wooden pole streetlight. The city owns all but the B.C. Hydro streetlights and will be replacing the 60 parking lot lights and 107 decorative lights in future years. The anticipated savings from replacing the 167 lights is $13,000 annually. Funding for the replacement of the 525 core metal pole streetlights was set aside during the 2016 budget session.
“We have $150,000 in our budget this year from our carbon fund to purchase LED lights and we’ve leveraged that with a $46,000 grant,” CAO Tim Pley told city council on Monday night.
“It’s not as simple as changing light bulbs. Some of our current lights are overlit and some are underlit.”
The $35,000 annual savings will cancel out the $150,000 the city has invested in under four-and-a-half year.
The $126,947 going to Eecol covers only the costs of the new LED light fixtures themselves and leaves the city $69,435 for installation. Cicon’s report states that the installation is scheduled to be completed by November 2016.
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