The City of Grand Rapids, in Michigan in the US, has awarded a major smart street-lighting contract to Canadian firm Dimonoff, which will see it install 18,037 connected nodes on luminaries across the city to enable more dynamic control of its lighting infrastructure. Dimonoff has some of the biggest civic smart lighting contracts in the world, including for (at least) 250,000 smart lighting nodes in Montreal and 200,000 in Quebec in its home country.
Grand Rapids will use the Canadian company’s smart control management system (SCMS) cloud platform to orchestrate the city’s lighting infrastructure. Dimonoff said the platform will “serve as the control centre for the… city to configure, control, monitor, and meter all streetlights”. The system also provides operational insights, the ability to tailor lighting (such as for seasonal changes and local events), and to pre-empt and manage light failures.
It will issue alarms and notifications for engineering teams to “optimize routing and schedule interventions” by keeping track of issues and escalating maintenance work orders. Apart from the energy saving, which is mostly enabled by the transition to LED lighting, augmented by more granular smart lighting controls, the major efficiency saving with smart street lights comes with the reduction of truck-rolls, as engineers are directed to faults in the system, rather than roaming for them, or responding to calls from citizens.
“Unnecessary maintenance costs can be avoided thanks to the exact technical asset configuration, geographical location and type of problem provided by the platform. This avoids unnecessary maintenance costs related to fieldwork and ensures that the city’s workers are deployed effectively,” said Dimonoff. The project is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024; it forms part of the city’s sustainability push.
A statement said: “This project promises to revolutionize the city’s lighting capabilities, bringing forth a new era of intelligent and energy-efficient illumination…This cutting-edge technology will allow for greater flexibility, responsiveness, and enhanced energy management, positioning Grand Rapids at the forefront of smart city initiatives.”
Bernard Têtu, founding president at Dimonoff, said: “The implementation of our smart street lighting solution represents a significant step towards building a more intelligent and eco-friendly urban landscape. With our advanced technology and expertise, we are confident that this partnership will set new standards for smart city initiatives, ultimately benefiting the citizens and the environment.”
