The City of West Richland converted 1,097 street lights into LED luminaires that are controlled by built-in wireless monitoring system. (Ameresco/LEDinside)

Ameresco, a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company, announced today that it has completed an LED street lighting and control project for the City of West Richland, WA. The project team converted 1,097 high pressure sodium (HPS) street lights to energy efficient LED luminaires and installed a wireless monitoring and control system. The new LED street lights are expected to reduce the system’s annual electricity consumption by 61 percent, saving the City approximately $67,000 in energy costs per year. Under an agreement with the City’s electric utility, Benton Rural Electric Authority (REA), the lighting control system will enable the City to implement dimming strategies projected to reduce energy use by an additional 10 to 20 percent.

"It makes good economic and business sense for the City to install new LED street lights and a wireless control system that reduces energy use by more than 60 percent while improving illumination, safety and addressing dark sky considerations," said Brent Gerry, Mayor, City of West Richland. "In addition to dramatic energy and maintenance savings, the control system will also enable us to move to a lower cost metered rate schedule that provides further cost reductions."

The lighting control system will help to maximize savings through enhanced monitoring and control functions, and will enable the City to move from a flat utility rate to a consumption-based tariff, reducing the City’s average cost per kWh by more than 26 percent.

“Benton REA saw this project as an opportunity to partner with the City of West Richland to provide improved public lighting while also conserving energy,” said Clint Gerkensmeyer, Benton REA General Manager. “The added safety of the new lighting and the energy savings to the city will benefit all residents. As a cooperative, Benton REA is committed to improving the communities we serve and bringing additional value to our member-owners.”

The cost of the project is budget-neutral to the City. Funding is partially provided through local grants, including an energy efficiency grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce of $281,937, and utility incentives from BREA totaling $195,000. The balance is financed for 12-years through the WA State Treasurer Local Option Capital Asset Lending program, and paid for through savings.

“Ameresco is excited to partner with the City to provide an LED solution that is financially and aesthetically attractive for the community and taxpayers,” said Louis Maltezos, Executive Vice President, Ameresco. “This project is unique in that there were many constituents involved and the collaboration provided a great outcome.”

The amount of the CO₂ emissions reduction is approximately 527,481 pounds annually, which is the equivalent of removing 50 passenger cars from the road each year.