Town-Wide LED Retrofit

The Town of Salisbury will be undertaking the task of retrofitting all the town-owned street lights with energy efficient LED lights over the next several months. The Town will be working with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and our consultant from LightSmart to complete this retrofit. The purpose of this project is to lower costs for the Town, take advantage of financial incentives that are currently available, and to increase safety. In early December, the Town officially took ownership of the lights previously owned by National Grid and can now begin this project.

Once the street lights are retrofitted, the Town will immediately begin saving money with the reduced wattages that are provided to National Grid for their electricity calculations. LED technology allows for brighter lights at lower wattages over traditional High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) lights. Therefore, our inventory will be one with lower wattages saving us money with National Grid. Furthermore, retrofitting the street lights with LED lights also reduces our maintenance costs on the lights. LED lights typically last two to four times longer than HPS lighting, requiring less maintenance. These savings are also in addition to the savings that the Town began receiving once Salisbury purchased the lights, which came with various savings of its own in the form of a more favorable electric rate and maintenance costs.

The Town also chose this time to retrofit the lights because two big incentives currently exist to help finance the cost of this project. The first is the National Grid rebate for energy efficient initiatives which applies to the retrofit of street lights with LED technology. This rebate will earn the Town an estimated $63,000. The second is the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources grant, which the MAPC administers, that will cover 30% of the cost of labor and supplies for an LED retrofit of Town-owned street lights. This benefit is estimated to earn the Town $49,000. With these financial incentives, the Town is looking at less than two years for a complete payback of this project.

Finally, during the design of this project, we will have the opportunity to adjust the brightness of street lights in areas of the Town that can maximize public safety. During the design phase of this project, we will get feedback from Police, Fire, and Public Works to determine what areas in Town need better lighting to keep people safe. We will be looking at intersections, pedestrian areas, and other accident prone spots around town to maximize the benefits associated with this project.

Please look for the new lights to be installed and running in 2019.