Lamar Light and Power Testing New LED Streetlights

Some portions of Lamar will appear different under new street lights that are being tested by Lamar Light and Power.  Plant Superintendent, Houssin Hourieh, informed utility board members, four light pole locations have had regular wattage lights replaced with LED versions.  The intersections are at Parmenter and 4^th Street, Oak Street and Division Street, East Olive Street and the entrance to Wal-Mart and at the North Side Park.  No particular industry performance standard has been set yet, so the field tests are new regarding how well the LED lights perform under heat, dust, hail, insects and other outdoor conditions.  The LED’s use less energy and should have a user life of 100,000 hours. 

Lack of wind has been directly attributable to a drop in energy produced by the light plant’s wind turbines through the end of March of this year, compared to the same time in 2012.  To date, the four belonging to the city have produced 2,852 MWH (megawatt hours) of electricity and that’s a 19% drop against last year’s figures, Hourieh noted.    The turbines have an average capacity factor of 29.78%.  The turbines were automatically cut from producing electricity earlier this week when wind speeds were in excess of 60mph at the turbine site.  Hourieh explained, “There’s an anemometer that records the speeds and the turbines are automatically taken offline when it gets that strong.”   

Utility board members approved a line extension request from Santa Fe Trail River Ranch at County Road 22.  The fee for the line will be 2% of the actual cost of the extension and will be billed monthly for the standard five year period.  The cost is estimated at $28,050, less $7,500 for 1000 feet of complimentary line construction. 

Total operating revenue for the light plant for December was $935,274 with total operating costs of $1,021,282 for a gross operating loss of $86,008.  The net loss for the month is $279,600 with non-operating revenues and expenses factored in.  Year to date net income is $905,584. 

The board went into executive session to discuss updates on the WildEarth Guardian lawsuit as well as the status of the Repowering Project.   New testing on the altered boiler system should be underway this summer.

By Russ Baldwin