Chevron and Preh Photovoltaic Promote California Streetlight Upgrade

On March 1, Chevron Energy Solutions and Preh Photonics formed a unique alliance to promote innovation in the field of LED lighting technology, helping cities significantly reduce electricity bills and maintenance costs.

According to the plan, Chevron's energy service division, Chevron Energy Solutions, will use LED technology to upgrade streetlights, and generally does not require cities to pay upfront costs. LED street lights consume 50% less electricity than ordinary streetlights, and maintenance costs are also greatly reduced, allowing cities to use the money saved to pay for installation costs. In addition, these LED street lights also provide better lighting quality, thereby increasing visibility, safety and at the same time benefiting law and order. In many cases, this upgrade will not have any impact on taxpayers, in addition to significantly improving community lighting. Livermore and Dublin in Alameda County, Northern California, are both known for their pioneering innovations. They are participating in this unique LED technology pilot project and have used Priest’s technology to upgrade several of their street lights.

The Mayor of Livermore City, John Marchand, said: “The pilot installation has been warmly welcomed by the public. We are proud to participate in this major technological advancement project in the field of lighting innovation. See our investment in local clean energy technology companies for the world. We are very proud of the potential financial gains from cities around the world.

Street lights usually account for 10%-40% of an urban energy expenditure. According to the data released by the Clinton Global Climate Initiative, the energy used by street lamps ranks third among current local government power expenditures. Simply transforming the existing traditional street lamps into Puri's LED street lights, many U.S. cities can reduce their annual energy expenditure by up to 40%, or about US$17 million.

Jim Davis, president of Chevron Energy Solutions, said: “All cities face similar financial dilemmas: They need to upgrade infrastructure but lack the funds to upgrade. Through this new initiative, we can help cities modernize their foundations. Facilities, they can use the energy saved to finance projects. These LED street lights are bringing significant changes, but this is just the beginning of our efforts to help cities save energy. We can do more.”

The mayor of Dublin, Tim Sbranti, said: “Our community is very excited about the assessment we are making with Chevron Energy Solutions and Puri Optoelectronics. All of our city government staff are looking forward to saving energy while improving the streets. On the visibility. We think this can be an example of a successful financing model that can be extended to many of our infrastructure improvement projects."

The core component of a streetlight is an LED lighting module that can be quickly and easily installed or upgraded into existing streetlights. The module is designed by leading PV technology and solution innovation company Puri Optoelectronics, and includes light sources and other components that are most likely to experience rapid evolution. With the advancement of energy efficiency and performance technologies in the future, it is expected that these modules will simply be replaced without upgrading the physical infrastructure of the city.

Through this module, the city can also upgrade street lights to include sensing and networking functions in the future so that city managers can control the city's lighting and monitor traffic or remote areas, which traditional street lights cannot achieve. Bill Watkins, chief executive of Pure Photonics, said: "LED lighting is the biggest advancement in lighting since Thomas Edison invented the bulb in 1879. But LEDs and solid-state lighting represent more than just a technological advancement. They will bring us management. New business models and functions for homes, businesses, and cities. The lighting implementation will no longer be as simple as screwing a light bulb into a socket."