Chicago completes smart street lighting project with Ameresco

The US city of Chicago, in partnership with technology firm Ameresco, has completed its Chicago Smart Lighting Programme.

The programme includes the modernisation of 280 street lighting fixtures with smart models for improved energy efficiency and smart city- use cases.

The $160 million initiative is the largest city-led wireless smart street lighting project in the US, according to the statement.

The new lights are expected to use 50-75% less electricity than the ones they replaced, a capability that is expected to help the city halve its energy costs.

The project will help Chicago save $12.4 million in electricity costs this year alone and over $100 million over the next ten years.

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The LEDs installed will last two to three times as long as traditional High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights, thereby helping the city reduce its maintenance costs and the need to invest in new ones within the short term.

In addition to the project’s financial benefits, the modernisation effort also seeks to improve public safety in Chicago by providing higher quality, more reliable lighting as well as to help the city reduce its carbon footprint.

The four-year modernisation project was conducted in partnership with the Chicago Department of Transportation, Itron, John Burns Construction and Lyons View Manufacturing.

Gia Biagi, Chicago commissioner, said: “Creation of the lighting management system puts us in the forefront of smart cities around the nation.

“The program has made Chicago a greener city and is providing clearer, more reliable nighttime lighting in every neighborhood. And the smart lighting management is making our operations more efficient, enabling our workforce to respond to outages more quickly when they occur.”