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SaskPower switching 8,800 streetlights to LED

SaskPower says it will replace 8,800 streetlights with light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures to save on electricity use. File / Global News

SaskPower says its crews and contractors will replace about 8,800 streetlights with light-emitting diode (LED) fixtures in order to use less electricity.

Regina, Saskatoon, Moose Jaw and Lloydminster will see lights changed out in 2019-20.

The total investment for this year is $2.8 million, according to the Crown corporation.

“LEDs use only 40 to 60 per cent of the energy required to power the high-pressure sodium vapour (HPSV) streetlights currently in use in the province,” Shawn Schmidt, SaskPower’s vice-president of distribution and customer services, said Thursday in a press release.

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“Converting all Saskatchewan’s streetlights to LED will reduce the energy demand for streetlighting and help reduce SaskPower’s carbon footprint.”

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LEDs means fewer streetlight outages as they have a longer, 20-year life expectancy compared to HPSV, SaskPower officials said.

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The work is part of a 10-year project to convert all of SaskPower’s roughly 98,000 streetlights in the province.

LEDs were piloted in a variety of environments in late 2017 before proceeding to a full rollout, according to officials.

Conversions have already been completed in heavy traffic corridors in large cities, provincial/national parks, and heavy traffic corridors in small cities.

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