Energy Efficiency
LEDs to Brighten N.H. Co-op Streets
New Hampshire’s only electric cooperative has become the first utility in the Granite State to turn exclusively to LED technology for its outdoor lighting program. Officials launched a new initiative Jan. 1 that’s expected to phase out other types of co-op-owned lighting fixtures within a few years.
Lineworkers from New Hampshire Electric Cooperative install new LED fixtures along the town square of North Conway. (Photo By: Seth Wheeler/NHEC)
“The finances of it really make sense,” said Seth Wheeler, communications administrator for New Hampshire Electric Cooperative. “While the high-pressure sodium bulbs burn out in five years, the LEDs will last 23 to 25 years.”
The Plymouth-based co-op factored in the costs of the HPS replacement bulbs, and the associated expenses of fixture maintenance, when it considered moving to the technology.
While the new LED fixtures will be at least twice the cost of the HPS lighting, their durability and longevity were huge pluses.
“We’ll make our money back by the time the first HPS replacement bulbs were scheduled to be installed,” Wheeler said. They are also a much more energy-efficient lighting source, so they fit in well with the co-op’s environmental goals.
The co-op currently owns about 4,600 outdoor area lights, and has informed companies, communities and consumer-members who lease the equipment that they will have three models of LED fixtures to choose from as existing bulbs require replacement.
New Hampshire Electric Cooperative lineworker Ben Mills prepares to install an LED lighting fixture on the town square of North Conway. (Photo By: Seth Wheeler/NHEC)
“We’ve got street lights and the type of floodlight fixtures typically seen in parking lots,” Wheeler said. “So we are offering two cobrahead roadway designs and a floodlight fixture.”
The switch to LED technology is also expected to simplify accounting for the lighting fixture leasing program. New Hampshire Electric has established a new LED lighting fee schedule.
The new rates reduce the monthly rental rate for roadway fixtures by 90 cents or $2.70, contingent on the model, while floodlight rates will increase by $1.90 a month, Wheeler said. “We should be able to complete the transition within the next two years.”