The Challenge

The City of Sault Ste. Marie’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) envisioned an ambitious infrastructure renewal project to replace some 9,050 High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) streetlights with more efficient Light Emitting Diode (LED) fixtures.

The conversion to the LED lights can offer the City an energy savings of between 30-50% and a 50-70% reduction in maintenance costs, a wise and timely project, given that the City’s energy bill, like most other Ontario cities, has been soaring in recent years.

Sault Ste. Marie would join the ranks of 95 other cities in Ontario, including many Northern Ontario communities, committed to converting HPS streetlights to LED streetlights. The majority of the Sault’s existing HPS lights were installed between 25 and 35 years ago.

DPM’s Roles and Responsibilities

Phase I: Expertise, Guidance and Construction Support

Due to our extensive experience on a number of high-profile lighting projects in southern Ontario, DPM was brought in as street lighting consultants to provide expert guidance and advice for the RFP.

DPM was responsible for developing the criteria for selecting suitable HPS equivalent LED luminaires and the corresponding control system for those lights. The LED fixture that has been selected to replace the majority of the lights is the LED Roadway Lighting NXT Series fixture.

We developed RFP specification criteria for photometry, specifications for the smart control of lights, and sampling criteria for street and intersection selection for calculations.

DPM also developed a scoring system for the technical
parts of the bids as well as the evaluation of the bids.

Phase II: Additionally, DPM Energy provided several layers of streetlighting contract and administration support for the Sault Ste. Marie PUC LED Conversion Project:

1. We reviewed and approved contractor submitted

2. We reviewed and approved contractor submitted shop drawings and lighting control plans.

3. We field-verified a sample set of lights.

4. We reviewed and approved submitted calculations,  material specifications (i.e., lighting, fusing) and photometry.4. We reviewed control gateway placements and field verified the results.

DPM Solutions

We researched best practices and used those to develop photometry and control criteria. We reviewed GIS data and Right of Way configuration to select a representative group of streets and intersections found in Sault Ste. Marie.

And with the detailed RFP criteria completed by DPM, the PUC was able to move forward to the next phase and ultimately choose the appropriate contractor for the conversion project.

LED streetlighting conversion is a critical component of today’s urban infrastructure renewal projects. The conversion of Sault Ste. Marie’s streetlighting from HPS to HPS equivalent LED will provide the city with impressive cost savings by effectively reducing its energy consumption. Smart control features, photocells and smart nodes, can offer municipalities multiple benefits. Smart lighting technologies help to lower power consumption, lessen light pollution, and result in a much-reduced ecological footprint. At the same time, they provide increased safety for the public and maintain visual comfort in public spaces.

The conversion project was completed in October 2016.