CUC Executive Director Abe Utu Malae, said they spent about $500,000 a year in fuel for the mercury and high pressure sodium streetlights that used to line the main roads of the commonwealth.
He said the installation of 1,189 LED streetlights on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota has reduced fuel costs and provided a higher quality of lighting.
Malae said “retrofitting the 250-watt streetlights to the 150-watt LED streetlights will not only provide a more directional and higher quality lighting but will reduce the diesel fuel consumption necessary to power the generators by tens of thousands of gallons per year.”
The new streetlights were purchased by the Department of Public Work’s Energy Division through a federal grant.
“We are grateful to have partners like DPW who share our mission and vision of providing reliable service to the community,” Malae said.
The savings that CUC will realize through the retrofitting of the streetlights will enable it to “progress further its efforts to rehabilitate power plants, wells, water lines and sewer lift stations,” he added.
CUC is working to acquire additional LEDs to replace the existing streetlights in the villages, he said.
In an earlier report, CUC stated it had already accomplished 40 percent of the retrofitting of 1,235 streetlights on Saipan and 5 percent on Tinian and Rota.
