860 streetlights will be replaced in Beaufort. What does Dominion’s switch mean for you?
Converting hundreds of old streetlights, some 50 years old, to crisper LED lighting is about to begin across the city of Beaufort.
The switch is expected to improve lighting — such as reducing nighttime glare that can district motorists, Dominion Energy’s Paul Fischer said. The move, he added, also will reduce energy consumption and save the city money in maintenance over time.
LED, or light-emitting diode, uses less energy and lasts longer than incandescent lighting, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
In Beaufort, 860 street lights will be changed to LED, tentatively beginning next week.
“It is better light,” Fischer said. “It’s crisper. It’s safer.”
The work will include changing out the 17 lights on the Woods Memorial Bridge to Lady’s Island. It will not include city decorative lights or private lights.
Existing streetlights in the city are primarily older, high-intensity discharge lights, Fischer said. Many are 40 to 50 years old.
About 386,000 kilowatt hours of energy consumption will be saved annually in Beaufort as a result of the streetlight conversion, Dominion says. By comparison, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer is about 10,649 kilowatt hours, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
In a sustainable lighting program rolled out last year in Summerville, Dominion Energy began offering municipalities incentives to convert overhead street lights to LED technology to help reach its goal of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Fischer said.
There will be no cost to the city of Beaufort, said Kathleen Williams, a spokesperson for the city. The city, in fact, is expected to save about $1,000 annually in charges from Dominion as a result of the conversion, she said.
277,000 SC lights eligible for switch
Neal Pugliese, who handles special projects for the city of Beaufort, said the LED program is part of a larger effort to reduce strain on the electrical system by cutting demand for power. LED, he said, is more cost effective and the light is similar to if not brighter than the lights that will be converted. LEDs last a long time, typically about 7 to 10 years, he added.
In Dominion Energy’s service territory in South Carolina, 277,000 streetlights are eligible for conversion, Fischer said. About 52,000 could be replaced during the program’s initial phase. In the end, the program could help conserve more than 27 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough energy to power 2,250 homes annually, Fischer said.
