Deerfield Beach, FL

Program Description

The city pursued the replacement of the street lighting system as part of a larger sustainability project that also aimed to retrofit public buildings and undertake other efficiency measures throughout its metro area.  Ownership across the city is divided among four agencies: the city, Florida Power & Light (FPL), Broward County, and the Florida Department of Transportation.

Service Area

The City of Deerfield Beach, FL.

Situation Highlights

The city is pursuing an ESCO approach to replacing their street lighting system. The plan is to conduct a thorough inventory, including the recording of GPS location for each light and pole and their general condition, and then financing the conversion of the city-owned lights using the energy savings achieved. It is unlikely that the utility’s lights will be replaced at the same time as those of the city, and so will likely have to be financed separately. The utility has their own ESCO for replacing their lights throughout their territory and is unwilling to sell the lights they own to the city. 

The utility appears to be poised to also roll out a controls system for the lights they own, which they have proposed to integrate with an automated water metering system the public works department is planning to implement within the next couple of years. The city is tentatively interested in the controls system but is proceeding cautiously in their interactions with FPL. The tariff bins FPL offers do not currently include dimming options, although there are some additional metered accounts that may be available that measure actual energy use.

The city’s conversion program is expected to begin its replacements in 2017.