OTTAWA - Hydro Ottawa is pitching a pilot project for new street lighting technology.
The company is offering to conduct a pilot project of Lumen IQ "adapted street lighting control system," Rosemarie Leclair, Hydro Ottawa’s president and CEO, wrote in a letter to city manager Kent Kirkpatrick.
The utility would pay for and install about 150 street lights in a neighbourhood, "with the city getting the benefit of associated energy savings," Leclair wrote.
"This pilot project would allow the city and Hydro Ottawa to assess the overall energy reduction and energy cost savings potential of adaptive lighting technology, in the context of other public policy considerations such as traffic and public safety," Leclair wrote.
Other pilot programs have shown energy cost savings of 30 to 50 per cent, she wrote.
Gloucester-South Nepean Councillor Steve Desroches has suggested to Kirkpatrick that some areas of his fast-growing ward could be a good fit for the pilot project.
"It really is win-win when you’ve got an initiative that reduces the cost in a municipality and is good for the environment," Desroches said. "This is an exciting opportunity and we should look at it very closely."
Lumen IQ is manufactured by Streetlight Intelligence Inc. According to Leclair’s letter, Hydro Ottawa "has secured options to purchase shares in Streetlight Intelligence Inc. through strategic investments announced in August 2009 and January 2010."
ncockburn@thecitizen.canwest.com