Date Announced: 29 Jan 2010 New energy saving street lights and traffic signals are set to save Blackpool Council tax payers up to 25%1 of their street lighting bill, and help save the planet too by removing over 1400 tonnes of carbon emissions per year2.E.ON Sustainable Energy, part of E.ON, one of the UK’s leading energy companies will install and maintain all street lights and traffic signals on behalf of the Community Lighting Partnership, a consortium between consulting engineers Pell Frischmann; and property partnership company Telereal Trillium – who recently secured a 25-year Private Finance Initiative (PFI) encompassing both street lighting and traffic signals for Blackpool, the first place in the world to install electric street lighting in 18793.Work is expected to begin in January 2010, when E.ON Sustainable Energy will, over 25 years, upgrade, operate and manage Blackpool’s 20,000 street lights and 2,000 traffic signals on nearly 430 km of highway, tracking energy savings and carbon emissions at every stage of the rollout. As well as saving money and helping to save the planet, Blackpool Council were keen to see how modern lighting could improve road safety, help tourism and even reduce crime. This is the second large-scale 25 year energy saving street lighting roll-out E.ON Sustainable Energy is involved with, and is testament to its commitment to help reduce carbon emissions, reduce energy costs and deliver sustainable energy solutions for the UK. Michael Woodhead, Managing Director for E.ON Sustainable Energy, said: “We’re delighted to be able to support the people of Blackpool in lighting the way for a new era of energy saving”. “This is another example of E.ON’s commitment to changing the way people view and use energy and we’re continuing to work hard to reduce the carbon footprint and energy costs of homes, buildings and businesses across the UK, in all kinds of ways”. For Blackpool, everything from the energy use of the ‘luminaire’ lamp fitting to the design of the street light column have been scrutinised for ways to conserve resources and significantly lower energy consumption. Carbon neutral aluminium lighting columns installed throughout the entire Borough, is a first in the UK The latest ‘remote monitoring’ technology is also being used within each street light. This helps to further reduce carbon emissions by removing the need for representatives to visit a street light, often by car, to check its working; allowing maintenance engineers to go directly to one that is not functioning. This is the first PFI project to include both street lighting and traffic signals. The use of LED traffic signal heads will not only save significant amounts of energy and carbon but also reduce the cost of annual maintenance for the Council. The project will also see the installation of a state of the art Urban Traffic Control and Urban Traffic Management Control system that will increase the transportation network efficiency benefiting residents, businesses and tourists to the Borough. Carl Powell a Director at Community Lighting Partnership, said: “We’re delighted in the appointment of E.ON Sustainable Energy as the delivery partner for this project and very excited about the prospect of bringing improvements to the street lighting and traffic signals for Blackpool. Together we look forward to demonstrating our commitment to innovation that will contribute to achieving the Council’s regeneration, community, safety and environmental objectives.” Benefits for residents and visitorsBlackpool residents and visitors will benefit most from the scheme, as they will have a street lighting service that will help improve safety in the town. Blackpool Council envisages a safer, healthier environment for residents and visitors and expects to see a reduction in night time road accidents, as well as a reduction in crime and in the fear of crime, as a result of the scheme.4Street lighting uses an estimated 2% of the UK’s electricity, meaning that if all the street lights in the UK were replaced with these energy saving alternatives, over 6 million tonnes of carbon could be saved over a 30 year period.5Notes1. Figures based on E.ON’s own product development work on the LED streetlight; 2. Based on a 50 watt LED light with a burn time of 4180 hours per year for each light type versus a more traditional 70 watt SON light running at 85w for the same timescale; 3. Extract from Blackpool Council’s call for final tender document; 4. Extract from Blackpool Council’s call for final tender document; 5. Over a 30 year period 6,320,160 tonnes of carbon could be saved. Figures based on E.ON’s own product development work on the LED streetlight. About the Community Lighting PartnershipThe Community Lighting Partnership is a consortium comprising Pell Frischman and Telereal Trillium.About E.ON Sustainable EnergyE.ON launched its Sustainable Energy business in 2007, providing low carbon energy solutions to businesses.E.ON is an MCS approved installer and one of only two energy providers accredited under the Government’s Low Carbon Building Programme Phase 2 which aims to reduce carbon emissions from buildings in the public and charity sector. To find out more visit http://www.lowcarbonbuildingsphase2.org.uk.E.ON is one of the UK’s leading power and gas companies – generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas – and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. Its retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK, with around 5.5 million electricity and gas customers, covering domestic, SME and industrial. For information on E.ON Sustainable Energy visit www.eonenergy.com/sustainable or call free on 0800 051 5687;About E.ON and sustainabilityE.ON’s retail business is a leading energy supplier in the UK, with around 5.5 million electricity and gas customers, covering domestic, SME and industrial.E.ON is one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 21 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland and one of the largest dedicated biomass power stations. Combined, its renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester.E.ON is a market leader in combined heat and power, providing customers with around 600MW of electricity and more than 1,000MW of heat at 13 sites across the country.
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