City of Hamilton Evolves with Current LED 

OUR CUSTOMER 

For the city of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, energy management and environmental responsibility are top priorities. In an effort to reduce street light maintenance costs while helping to improve safety with well-lit streets, the city investigated a new street lighting solution for its aging high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures.

THE EXPECTATION

Although there are more than 40,000 street lights citywide, the city of Hamilton wanted to target a specific 10,000-fixture area that had the most energy-consuming lights in the city. City staff desired a light fixture that could deliver energy efficiency as well as increase the quality of Illumination in the streets.

The city investigated LED lighting for its long-rated lifetimes and greater energy savings, trialing several manufacturers' products to find the best solution. Working with Tymat Solutions, which represents Current's roadway lighting, the city researched alternatives to HPS light fixtures.

“We tested nearly 500 light fixtures in the past year to find the best solution for the city's roadways,” said Gord McGuire, manager of Corridor Management with the city of Hamilton. “We've seen great improvements in LEDs over the past few years and felt it was the right time to retrofit the city's lights.”

Current was awarded the phased LED retrofit program due to its quality of product and service. The retrofit program totals more than 10,000 street lights.

OUR SOLUTION

Current's Evolve™ LED street lights were installed by Enersource in the 10,000-fixture area.

“Our experience working with Current was excellent, with top-of-the-line delivery, which put us in great shape to stay on track and complete the installation on time,” said George Matai, Senior Manager of Operations, Enersource. “Installation was easy and we had little to no issues with the fixtures.”

A variety of Current fixtures are used across the city. All of the street lights were designed to meet requirements related to local sidewalk and road conditions, pole spacing and heights, and road classification.

“One significant benefit of working with Current included the ability to create a custom fixture,” said McGuire. “For areas where we had issues with pole spacing or challenges with meeting lighting requirements, Current worked with us to find the proper solution."

Not only did the city install new light fixtures, Hamilton also began a trial of Current's LightGrid™ wireless outdoor lighting control system. Benefits of LightGrid include energy metering, GPS inventory and overall controllability and dimming.

“We're excited to see what we can do with the lights in terms of monitoring and controlling,” said McGuire. “This trial will give us good metrics for a potentially larger roll-out in the city."

RESULTS & BENEFITS

The improved quality of lighting has earned positive feedback from officials and citizens alike.

“Citizens and council members have said the quality of lighting on the roads and sidewalks has drastically improved,” said Mike Field, Project Manager, Street Lighting & Electrical at City Of Hamilton.

The conversion is expected to save the city up to $700,000 in annual energy costs while delivering savings of more than 6.9 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy per year, which is enough to power 720 homes each using 800 kWh per month.

Explore what's possible with smart LED and other technologies for cities with Current.