The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPSCo) and Caribbean Maritime Institute (CMI) have partnered to retrofit 30 streetlights along the Palisadoes main road in Kingston with solar-powered light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures. This is to be done by the end of September.

A memorandum of understanding was signed between CMI executive director, Dr Fritz Pinnock, and JPSCo chief executive officer, Kelly Tomblin, at the CMI last Monday.

Audrey Williams, corporate communications officer at JPSCo, explained to Automotives, "CMI approached JPS with a proposal to retrofit the present lamps with LED lighting. So JPS will provide the lamps and CMI students will retrofit them for LED lighting. These will be submitted to the Bureau of Standards before they are installed."

Williams emphasised that there will be considerable savings once the lights are retrofitted. "LED lights are far more energy-efficient than the traditional high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps being used. Switching the street lights would represent a significant saving in street light costs. Annual energy costs for HPS lamps is US$490, while energy costs for LED lights is US$280," she said. She said the Palisadoes main road was chosen as the first location to introduce the LED lighting in order to provide employment opportunities to students at CMI.

EMPLOYMENT CREATED

"Caribbean Maritime Institute saw an opportunity to use its students to carry out the retrofitting, thus creating employment for the youngsters. The project will be carried out with the assistance of the engineers from JPS," she pointed out.

Williams said the LED lights have a considerable advantage. "The lifetime of the bulb is significantly longer. An HPS lamp of 250W has a bulb life of 10,000 hours, while an LED lamp of 100W (which gives comparable lighting) has a rated bulb life of 70,000 hours. It also represents a 58 per cent reduction in energy consumption," she emphasised.

She added that the LED lights and use KRECO's LED drivers are more environmentally friendly. Williams said the initiative will be funded by JPSCo, but did not reveal the cost.

Kingrong Enterprise Ltd will work with this project...