UPDATE: As of March 21st, there are less than 500 fixtures remaining to be converted.

Project Intent

The streetlight improvement project will provide significant value to the City through various methods. The first is that the volume and color of the new LED luminaries will be significantly better than the current installed technology. The lumen (or volume of light) output will also be greater than the existing fixture, in some cases significantly. The new fixtures will have a useful life of 100,000 hours at a higher lumen output over that lifetime than the current technology. Finally, there are significant operational and maintenance savings that the City will realize as a result. The significant energy cost savings are the key driver of the project, but there will also be reductions in streetlight service costs by upwards of 75% over the life of the new fixtures.

Project Background & Solicitation Process

In June of 2022 the City of Newark released a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) seeking interested firms capable of designing and implementing the conversion of City-owned and operated streetlights from high pressure sodium type luminaires to light emitting diode luminaires (LEDs). After careful review of all submissions, the City selected Syserco Energy Solutions, Inc. (SES) to provide the development and implementation of this much-needed lighting retrofit project. The upgrade to LED lighting will provide the City with better quality lighting, reduced operational and maintenance costs, and significant annual electricity savings.

As of October 2023, the City owns and maintains 2,896 streetlights, 27 of which were already LED.

Project Funding Allocation

The overall cost to the City to implement this project is $1,598,265. With annual energy cost savings projected around $219,000, the project will “pay for itself” in just over seven (7) years.

Projected Cost Savings

Based on 4% estimated PG&E annual utility cost escalation, the 15-year net cumulative savings to the City will be over $4.5 million.

Projected Development

SES worked closely with City staff throughout the project development process, which included performing an Investment Grade Audit (IGA) of the City-owned streetlight assets. The IGA established a historical energy and utility baseline and identified a comprehensive list of recommendations that would provide the best overall value to the City. Once the IGA was reviewed by the City, SES produced an official Energy Services Proposal (ESP) that outlined the final scope of work for this project.

With approval of City Council, in March 2023 the City and SES officially entered into a contract agreement for the installation and implementation of this project.

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