Renewable Energy & Advanced Lighting Systems for Exterior Applications

Regents of the University of California, Davis

Recipient

Davis, CA

Recipient Location

3rd

Senate District

4th

Assembly District

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$1,467,904

Amount Spent

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Active

Project Status

Project Update

The project is on track. All demonstration sites have been selected and visited by project team, existing conditions such as lighting source type, hours of operation, utility rate schedule, etc. have been verified. A prototype luminaire currently used in the India's market arrived at the CLTC for evaluation. The luminaire operates only on 240 Volts/ 50 Hz. A universal voltage at 60 HZ version is in development and the anticipated UL listing is summer 2023.

The Issue

The vast majority of street, parking and exterior lights in CA are grid connected and operated in an ON / OFF function using photocells/ time clock combination and do not offer an alternate source of power in case of emergency such as PSPS events, and do not offer load shifting to help with the evening ramp. With the electrification of energy use in CA, electric vehicles may likely be adding significant load overnight during the same hours that exterior lights are operating. Since there is little renewable energy available at night, it is imperative that all nighttime load be decreased as much as possible or shifted to periods of high renewable availability.

Project Innovation

This project will design, develop, and demonstrate a variety of hybrid power (solar, battery and grid-tied) exterior LED luminaire systems with embedded sensors and controls. Demonstration of this system intends to improve safety in streets, parking lots, and parks located in at least seven disadvantaged and low-income communities. The project aims to benefit California rate payers via lower energy cost, reliable hybrid exterior LED luminaires with significant reduction in nighttime grid energy use.

Project Goals

Design, develop and deploy hybrid (solar and grid-tied) LED exterior lighting system.

Project Benefits

This Agreement may result in ratepayer benefits through developing a product that can remove a large portion of the exterior area lighting load from the grid. This may be especially useful during peak hours (5-9 pm) during winter, early spring and late fall. This should help utilities lower costs on overnight generation, a period of little to no renewable energy. If this technology is deployed for all outdoor lighting in CA, an estimated 4,000 GWh of electricity could be offset per year which equates to 132,000 tons of CO2 emission reduction.

Increase Safety

Safety

A hybrid exterior luminaire powered by both the utility grid and the integrated batteries will provide added safety and security during fires or emergency shut off events such as PG&E's PSPS program.

Key Project Members

Project Member

Michael Siminovitch

Director
California Lighting Technology Center at UC Davis
Project Member

Abhijeet Pande

Project Manager
TRC Engineers, Inc.
Project Member

Josh Dean

Director
California Energy Alliance

Subrecipients

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TRC Engineers, Inc.

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Match Partners

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ICF International

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Regents of the University of California, Davis - California Lighting Technology Center

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CSU Dominguez Hills

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DesignLights Consortium

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City of West Sacramento

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The Bit Bazaar, LLC

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LED Green Light International

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Sixteen Five Hundred

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Contact the Team

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