Mayor Joseph J. Solomon announced through a release on Monday that the city will be seeking competitive bids to replace streetlights with more energy-efficient LED technology.
The city had issued …
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Mayor Joseph J. Solomon announced through a release on Monday that the city will be seeking competitive bids to replace streetlights with more energy-efficient LED technology.
The city had issued a bid last October relative to street lighting; however, the City Council ultimately rejected the bid because “it was a sole-source bid and was presented for the purchase and maintenance of the existing streetlights,” Solomon noted through the release.
The city will purchase the streetlights from National Grid and the new RFP will seek competitive bids for the conversion to LED as well as a short-term contract to maintain the existing equipment until they are converted to LED. An expert from National Grid has offered to assist in the bid process at no cost to the city, Solomon said.
The comprehensive LED conversion will result in long-term cost savings and better energy efficiencies. For example, LED lights provide equal or better illumination, use up to 70 percent less energy and can last for more than 50,000 hours and in some cases up to 100,000 hours without an effect on light quality. The cost savings will also likely enable the city to turn on some of the lights in neighborhoods throughout the city that have been “red capped,” or disabled, for many years in order to save on electricity costs, Solomon said.
“Improving the safety and appearance of our neighborhoods is of the utmost importance to me, and the red-capped street lights are a concern that I am hearing frequently from our residents when I attend community events,” Solomon said. “The cost savings from this project will help us to turn some of those lights back on. Moving forward with this project in a comprehensive way is good for our residents, our city budget and the environment.”
In addition to the cost savings and energy efficiencies of LED technology, reported benefits include the ability to target the light so it best illuminates the roadway and the fact that LED lights, unlike traditional lights, do not need to warm up in cold weather and, instead, are on instantly.
The potential benefits of switching to LED lighting throughout the city was brought before the Warwick City Council, most recently, in March when the Partnership for Rhode Island Streetlight Management (PRISM), gave a detailed presentation that showed how Warwick could potentially save $572,838 if they purchased the city’s streetlights from National Grid and maintained them themselves. That bid also included the provision to contract with Warwick company K Electric to be the on-call company that would be responsible for performing maintenance and repairs on the city’s streetlights.
Despite PRISM’s resume – which included, at the time, 22 other communities in the state working with them to re-claim their streetlights and realize savings – the council opted to hold off on awarding the bid, citing concerns over PRISM being the lone bidder and uncertainty regarding how the process to transition the lights to LEDs would work.
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Justanidiot
LED's don't last as advertised. Make sure the contract is written to make sure that replacements done before the expected lifespan are paid for by the contractor. Labor too. If you don't you will get scammed and cost the city as much money as if master mayer were in charge. 'nuf said.
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 Report this
richardcorrente
Dear Justanidiot,
You will recall that I am against LED's for that very reason. The third-candidate, Jed Carbone sees value in them but I feel they cost too much today and save "less than promised", but as technology improves they may very well be a smart option in just a few years. Acting mayor Solomon is saying that the Council is "seeking competitive bids". Smart idea. I'm sure that someone on the Council will pose your question about replacements. If not, I will bring it up.
I don't think that bulb-replacement labor is a big issue. We already have a full staff for that but you're right. The bulbs cost a fortune. (I do think they come with a warranty, but that is another issue to discuss). I'm comfortable that there have been enough cities/towns that have gone before Warwick, to give us data that will help prevent the city from getting scammed. (no matter who is in charge).
Warwick had (has) a similar situation in Oakland Beach. The ornamental street lights keep getting crashed into rendering them inoperable. The City wants National Grid to pay. National Grid said "We don't warranty against car accidents". The end result is that the street lights closest to the "Beach Pail" (Now closed. Previously called "The Carousal" ) remained in total darkness for many months, adding to the demise of that restaurant. I got involved with attempting to resolve that issue but the only thing I kept seeing was finger-pointing, not results. I fear this would be a similar problem unless, as you point out, there is language up front to prevent it. Good to see you cleaned up your spelling before writing that conscientious warning.
Happy Autumn old friend.
Happy Autumn everyone.
Rick Corrente
The Taxpayers Mayor
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 Report this