A joint pilot project between the V.I. Energy Office and WAPA has resulted in energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lights on about 100 of Cruz Bay’s streetlights.
The lights come with a management system so operators can monitor the lights to see if they’re on when they’re supposed to be lit or off during daylight hours.
Teams from WAPA and the Energy Office were on St. John Wednesday to showcase the lights.
“It’s very cool. Very few places in the states have a streetlight-management system,” said WAPA electrical engineer R. Arthur Burton, as the teams gathered near the Cruz Bay ferry dock to point out the new lights.
Burton explained that because it’s a pilot project, WAPA will gather data on the LED streetlights to see how well the system works.
“And we have to monitor it,” said Radclyffe Percy, the Energy Office’s supervisor of engineering.
WAPA and the Energy Office got the ball rolling on St. John, but plans are afoot to install the same lights on St. Thomas and St. Croix.
The pilot project on all three islands is paid for through the Energy Office with Stimulus Funds to the tune of about $2.5 million. The lights cost $745 a piece and come with a five-year guarantee. WAPA supplied the labor to install the lights on existing utility poles.
Since it’s a pilot project, Burton said that WAPA can’t replace any of the regular high-sodium pressure streetlights with the LEDs. And WAPA also has no plans to replace all the others across St. John any time soon, but WAPA’s system planning manager, Allyson Gregory, said that eventually WAPA will convert all of the island’s 560 streetlights to LEDs.
LEDs have many benefits, including making it easier to identify people because the light is similar to moonlight, Burton said.
“And the white light is brighter,” he said, referring to the color of the LED lights.
The visit by the WAPA and Energy Office teams comes as the territory observes Energy Education Week.
