CAROGA — The first step towards the town transitioning its street lights to LED fixtures was taken on Wednesday with a presentation by a New York Power Authority representativethe during the town’s regular meeting.
There to give the presentation was Jessica Waldorf, NYPA senior business development representative who discussed with the town the benefits of transitioning the town’s street lights to LED fixtures.
This project is part of the Smart Street Lighting initiative launched by Gov. Andrew Cuomo with the goal of converting 500,000 street lights to LED fixtures by 2025.
“Right now you’re looking at about $35,000 a year in utility cost,” Waldorf said.
By converting to LED lighting, the cost would be reduced to $24,000 a year by converting through National Grid or could be reduced to $11,000 if the town were to purchase and convert themselves.
Waldorf said in the design process, they would like to have local contractors participate in the process.
“We wanted to make sure we didn’t take away from local labor as part of the project,” she said.
NYPA would use a 3,000 kelvin light fixture, which is close to what Caroga uses now.
It is a yellow light and photometrics would be done during design to see the spread of light.
“The light is cleaner, but it also spreads a wider base and it’s more directional,” Waldorf said. “It’s not going to go in areas you don’t want it to go.”
The town has 166 lights, however, Waldorf said during design they could refine that so they have less lights.
When it comes to managing the lights, to turn them on and off, Waldorf gave the town two proposals. The first is the standard photo cell which is the standard service control which is what the town currently uses. The second proposal is the City Touch Node that gives automatic notifications if a fixture is out and allows them to dim or turn off fixtures.
Councilmen did however, have concerns about the City Touch Node because it uses cellular technology, but parts of Caroga have little to no cellular coverage.
Waldorf said she would get more information to the town on that technology.
Councilmen also wanted to know what the next steps are for the project which would be to have their attorneys look over any documentation.
“I am intensely interested in this,” said councilman James Long. “Everything you’re saying looks good.”
