The comparison between convetional and LED streetlights. (Photo Courtesy of LED Streetlight Upgrade Project of City of St. Catharines)

On Dec 17, the City of St. Catharines, which sits in Southern Ontario, Canada, is switching its high- pressure sodium streetlights to energy efficient LED ones, reported CKTB.

The conversion is expected to save 60% of the City’s annual energy and maintenance expense. This means the City will save CA $720,000 (US $520,541) for energy bill and maintenance savings CA $350,000 (US $253,041) per year.

Thanks to directional lighting, the new LED streetlights will only illuminate the ground, eliminating chances of light pointing to the sky.

A total of 14,070 streetlights across the city are expected to be fully converted to LEDs within four years.

The first batch of LED streetlights will be install to the southeast area of the city and the conversion will shift counterclockwise throughout St. Cathariens. In 2016 the northeast of the city will be upgraded with LED streetlights, followed by northwest in 2017 and southwest in 2018.

However, decorative streetlights will be excluded from the conversion list, including post top lights and lights inside parks owing to hardware issues.

The conversion will be performed by utility provider Enersource Power Services. The company has done similar project in the City of Mississauga and the City of Hamilton.

Each streetlights will only take up to seven minutes to switch from HPS to LED. As a result, the upgrade will not pose any disruption to residents.

The City Council has already approved the expense of the LED streetlights conversion earlier this year for CA $7 million (US $5.06 million).

The city is expected to receive CA $1.1 million (US $795,271) in funding from the Independent Electricity System Operator incentive fund, lowering the cost of the project to CA $5.9 million (US $4.26 million).