Six Lincoln County town managers all had a bright idea to replace their sodium-based street lights with a more modern cost-efficient and environmentally friendly alternative. County commissioners submitted a bid package for Bristol, Boothbay, Damariscotta, Somerville, Newcastle and Wiscasset to replace their street lights with light-emitting diodes (LEDs). On April 7, commissioners received two bids. RealTerm Energy of Annapolis, Maryland, and Affinity Lighting of Dover, New Hampshire submitted bids for photocell and smart-controlled options.

In December, Boothbay was the last of the six to consider converting from sodium-based to LED street lights. Boothbay is looking to replace 179 street lights with LEDs which would reduce operating costs by an estimated $25,000 per year. On Dec. 11, Affinity Lighting President and co-founder Steve Leiber told Boothbay selectmen, over 20 years, the town would save $500,000 in costs and reduce power consumption by 78% and carbon dioxide emissions by 78%. 

Boothbay Town Manager Dan Bryer contacted the commissioners to ask if other towns were interested in bulk purchases for reducing equipment and installation costs. Boothbay joined five Lincoln County towns in seeking a combined county bid for either photocell or smart-controlled options. The difference is smart-controlled would form a network of municipal streets communicating  with one another by reducing lighting in more illuminated sections by increasing illumination to dark areas. The smart-controlled option is a slightly higher option.  On April 7, commissioners opened the bids. Wiscasset is requesting the most street lights with 230. RealTerm bid $79,744.07 for photocell and $100,312.07 for smart-controlled. Affinity bid $91,933 for photocell and $122,596 for smart-controlled. Boothbay requested the second most lights at 179. Real Term bid $65,715.76 for photocell and $82,374.76 for smart-controlled. Damariscotta needs 100 lights. Real Energy bid $42,150.25 for photocell and $51,364.25 for smart-controlled. Affinity bid $45,259 for photocell and $59,830 for smart-controlled. Newcastle needs 62 new street lights. RealTerms bid $17,320.92 for photocell and $21,043.92 for smart-controlled. Affinity bid $18,623 for photocell and $25,892 for smart-controlled. Bristol requested 41 lights. Affinity bid $18,892 for photocell and $26,284 for smart-controlled. RealTerm bid $15,901 for photocell and $$19,717 for smart-controlled. Somerville only requested bids for two photocell LED lights. Affinity bid $991 and RealTerm bid $922.

County Administrator Carrie Kipfer sent the bid packages to the six towns last week. Each select board will decide individually which bid package to accept. The county participated in the bid process to procure a better price for towns because vendors indicated a bulk purchase would likely bring a reduced price. “Early on, the towns were told by one of the vendors that they needed 500 lights to bid as one project, so one town wouldn’t be able to do this alone,” Kipfer said. “That restriction has been eased, but there may be a cost advantage for neighboring towns to select the same vendor, so it was grouped as one project.”

Wiscasset Town Manager John O’Connell said his board wouldn’t likely consider the bids until May. Boothbay, Bristol, Newcastle and Damariscotta will likely review the bids later this month. Once all the select boards review bids, they will confer by conference call to see if they want to buy lights as a group or individually. 

This article has been updated from its original posting.