Cleveland Public Power has the OK to take next step toward converting to LED streetlights.
A view of Pearl Road illuminated by high-pressure sodium lights. The city has outfitted a portion of Pearl with LED fixtures in a test of their brightness and durability. CLEVELAND -- A team of consultants will soon walk Cleveland's streets looking at streetlights and measuring the light output from the city's 67,000 high-pressure sodium street lamps.
It's part of a citywide survey Cleveland Public Power won approval to do Wednesday from Cleveland City Council. The lawmakers approved CPP's spending up to $300,000 of already budgeted money to hire a consulting company.
Cleveland Public Power Commissioner Ivan Henderson and street lighting chief James Ferguson said during two hearings that the survey was a crucial next step toward developing a financing plan for the mass conversion.
A view of Pearl Road illuminated by LED fixtures. The city has conducted a two-year test of the LED streetlights on East and West sides of town, on main streets and residential streets. Ferguson said the survey and following analysis would probably show that the city did not need as many streetlights as it now has. One reason is that LED fixtures are not only much more efficient but are also more directional and give a brighter, whiter light than the sodium bulbs.
If the city connects the new LED streetlights with a smart grid as planned, CPP will be able to accurately meter the power consumption of every bulb, said Ferguson. That's a leap over the traditional method of charging a fixed price per light, assuming that it will burn about 4,200 hours a year.
Of Ohio's utilities, only FirstEnery is offering a new LED rate or tariff. Approved by the state last fall, that "experimental" tariff was not available until June 1 and will run through May 31, 2016. As of Wednesday, no city had asked for the tariff, a FirstEnergy spokesman said.
Other cities are sure to be watching Cleveland for evidence that the metering and other, more science-fiction-like capabilities of a lighting smart grid can deliver what manufacturers promise.
Ferguson testified a week ago before Council's utilities committee, telling them LED fixtures outfitted with special digital applications, or apps, and connected in a smart grid would be able to not only tell CPP how much power they were using, or when they were not lighting, but also would be able to measure snowfall, report vehicular and pedestrian traffic, detect smoke and "hear" gunfire.
Ferguson said the number of apps are numerous, just like apps for smartphones, which have proliferated.
Though only two council members opposed the $300,000 expense, Henderson and Ferguson got a grilling during an afternoon hearing Wednesday before the evening vote.
Councilmen Jeff Johnson and Zack Reed, both of whom voted against allowing CPP to spend money hiring a consultant, wanted to know why the city's own employees couldn't do the assessment.
And other council members, led by Councilman Martin Keane wanted the consultants to conduct a utility pole inventory since they would be on every street. Keane and Councilman Michael Polensek said their wards are littered with abandoned or damaged utility poles.
Henderson said a pole inventory would considerably increase the cost of the survey.