Echelon Selected by Goldendale, WA for its LED Streetlight Upgrade Project

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Nov. 1, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Echelon Corporation (NASDAQ: ELON) and its partners have been selected by the City of Goldendale, WA to upgrade the City's entire streetlight grid to a smart LED system using Echelon controls. Echelon's LumInsight® Central Management System (CMS) and wireless outdoor lighting controllers can help Goldendale lower its utility bill for lighting by up to an estimated 60-70% (a savings estimated at up to $40,000/year) according to analysis completed by the City. In addition, the system has the potential significantly to reduce light pollution in the surrounding area − a boon to the neighboring Goldendale Observatory and associated tourist business in the City − enabling the City to apply for International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) compliance.

Echelon's innovative lighting control system can enable a municipality to lower electric costs beyond the savings gained by LEDs alone through intelligent control of light levels. For example, instead of running all lights at full intensity between dusk and dawn, the lights levels can be configured to specified brightness levels in accordance with concurrent levels of ambient light. Requirements for brightness levels by road type can be programmed in to Echelon's LumInsight CMS as well, and this sophisticated control intelligence can be applied to any subset of the streetlight grid: Per light, per street, or per neighborhood. Similarly, light levels for any subset of the lights or all the lights can be increased or decreased as needed, based on a variety of factors including time of day, day of week or month, traffic levels, scheduled events, or neighborhood needs.

"Combining Echelon's proven wireless control and sensor technology with industry standard lighting fixtures − and our LumInsight CMS – creates an elegant adaptive lighting solution which meets all of the goals of Goldendale's LED retrofit project. The solution uses energy efficient LEDs, directs light down where it's needed, lights only what needs to be lit,  and most impressively, adaptively reduces brightness levels as needed," says Ron Sege, Chairman and CEO of Echelon. "Echelon continues to create innovative technology that can improve quality of life and the environment."

Since its start as a watering stop on the Yakima-Okanogan wagon trail, long before electric lights, the City of Goldendale in Southeast Washington has catered to visitors. The area is famous for its dark night skies and is now home to one of the country's largest public telescopes, at the Goldendale Observatory State Park Heritage Site. The City now welcomes thousands of visitors a year who learn about the night skies from informative science programs year round at the Goldendale Observatory.

"The Goldendale Observatory is a centerpiece of the City, a true treasure," said Karl Enyeart, Public Works Director of the City of Goldendale. "The new LumInsight CMS- enabled smart LED streetlight system not only dramatically reduces energy consumption and cost, but helps maintain the dark night skies necessary for the Observatory."

Like many cities under a tier structure with their electric provider, Goldendale realized that switching to LED lights would lower their cost, but it was a fixed rate no matter how much energy they used. The City approached their Electric Utility with the proposed solution using Echelon controls and sensors and arranged to pay for only the energy they used, with operations and maintenance (O&M) being paid as needed on a time and materials basis. This was made possible by Echelon TOP900 controllers that monitor and report power usage. In addition, Mr. Enyeart points out that they expect to further reduce costs by planning for a uniform light in all fixtures − which they can tune to the required brightness level as needed − and by using the Echelon controls to remotely monitor the health of the lights, making maintenance more efficient. "Further, by running lights at lower than maximum output we expect to extend the lifetime of the LED lights," said Mr. Enyeart.

"By upgrading to a new energy efficient smart LED lighting system throughout the City with Echelon controls, we not only save money on utility costs that can be used for much needed infrastructure improvements to benefit our citizens, but we also improve the experience at the Goldendale Observatory for the thousands of families who come here to learn about the night skies," said Goldendale Mayor, Mike Canon.

Echelon and its partners WESCO and Columbia Pacific Sales have worked together to provide a solution that meets the needs of the City and achieves the aggressive goal of applying for IDA compliance. The innovative solution they came up with uses LED fixtures combined with Echelon's LumInsight CMS and Echelon TOP900 wireless outdoor lighting controllers.

About Echelon Corporation

For 25 years Echelon (NASDAQ:ELON) has pioneered the development of open-standard networking platforms for connecting, monitoring and controlling devices in commercial and industrial applications. With more than 110 million devices installed worldwide, Echelon's proven, scalable solutions host a range of applications enabling customers to reduce energy and operational costs, improve safety and comfort, and create efficiencies through optimizing physical systems. Echelon is focusing today on two IoT (Internet of Things) market areas: creating smart cities and smart enterprises through connected outdoor lighting systems, and enabling device makers to bring connected products to market faster via a range of IoT-optimized embedded systems. More information about Echelon can be found at www.echelon.com.

About Wesco International, Inc.

WESCO International, Inc., a publicly traded Fortune 500 holding company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a leading provider of electrical, industrial, and communications maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) products, construction materials, and advanced supply chain management and logistic services. 2016 annual sales were approximately $7.3 billion. The company employs approximately 9,000 people, maintains relationships with over 25,000 suppliers, and serves approximately 75,000 active customers worldwide. Customers include commercial and industrial businesses, contractors, government agencies, institutions, telecommunications providers, and utilities. WESCO operates ten fully automated distribution centers and approximately 500 full-service branches in North America and international markets, providing a local presence for customers and a global network to serve multi-location businesses and multi-national corporations. https://www.wesco.com/

About Columbia Pacific Sales

Columbia Pacific Sales is a manufacturers' representative agency focusing on sales of roadway, commercial, and industrial lighting products in Oregon and Southwest Washington. It is our mission to bring product expertise and exemplary service to our customers, representing only lines of proven highest quality products and service. http://www.columbiapacificsales.com/

Echelon, the Echelon logo, and LumInsight, are trademarks of Echelon Corporation that may be registered in the United States and other countries. Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

This press release may contain statements relating to future plans, events or performance. Such statements may involve risks and uncertainties, the risk that Echelon's offerings by themselves or combined with other applications or offerings do not perform as designed or do not offer the expected benefits and savings; and other risks identified in Echelon's SEC filings. Actual results, events and performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Echelon undertakes no obligation to release publicly the result of any revisions to these forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Thomas Cook
Echelon PR
[email protected]

SOURCE Echelon Corporation

Related Links

http://www.echelon.com