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08/14/2018 12:00 AMSeveral sample LED fixtures have been installed on Seaview Avenue utility poles near Westbrook Town Beach and in decorative metal post-top fixtures on Flat Rock Place, Halls Road, and Fairview Road. Now the town’s Energy Committee wants to find out your preferences.
The town’s lighting contractor Siemens installed a 4000-Kelvin fixture at the Town Beach entrance and two, 3000-Kelvin fixtures, one for residential streets put in near the beach’s basketball hoops and one, designed for major streets, installed at the intersection of Seaside and Tarpon avenues.
The LED fixture on Flat Rock Place is on the right (on the way into the outlets), the third light before the Middlesex Hospital Clinic; it has a small yellow tape around the pole and a sign on the group next to it advertising Oshkosh and Carters. Two additional lights are in subdivisions, one at the intersection of Fairview and Halls roads, and the second in a different type of fixture at the end of Halls Road.
“We are encouraging residents to view the lights and provide feedback via the survey on the town’s website,” said Town Energy Committee project lead Bill Fish.
The survey will be used to guide what will be a long-term decision for the town.
“We are encouraging residents to view the lights and provide feedback via the survey before the town enters into a contract to replace all 523 cobra head fixtures and retrofit the 102 decorative fixtures that the town has purchased from Eversource,” Fish said.
The Energy Committee plans to vote this month on the contract to purchase the more than 600 LED fixtures that will replace the current ones.
To access the Energy Committee’s online survey through the town’s website, visit westbrookct.us and scroll down the headings in the left-hand column; find and click on “Westbrook Energy,” or navigate directly to www.westbrookenergy.org.
In addition to installing the new LED demo streetlights, Siemens has also repaired 16 streetlights that were either burned out or malfunctioning since the town took ownership and assumed responsibility for streetlight maintenance. When the town officially took ownership of the streetlight system in mid-April, it also became responsible for repairing and maintaining any streetlights that were not operational.
Energy Savings Projects
In other initiatives, the Energy Committee is pursuing initiatives that if successful, would install solar panels on three school buildings. This initiative is through applications to the state’s Zero-Emissions Renewable Energy Credit auction. If the credits are awarded, the Board of Education could mitigate future electricity rate increases over the next 20 years.
The Energy Committee is also awaiting word from the state on whether the town’s bid for a microgrid award for installation at the town’s high school/middle school campus would be approved. If awarded, the grant would support making these buildings operational during a major weather event leading to power outages elsewhere in town.
In an earlier Board of Education project, solar panels to heat water and to make electricity were installed on the roof at Westbrook High School.