The ability of connected lighting systems to monitor and report their own energy use holds unique value to streetlighting applications, where energy use is typically billed according to estimates. The use of networked streetlight controllers that can measure power, energy, and perhaps other electrical and environmental conditions holds much promise to improve energy-use accountability and the performance and maintenance of streetlighting systems, but their adoption has been stymied by concerns over measurement accuracy as well as the necessary functionality and maintenance of these networked systems. Further, the electrical infrastructure powering streetlights in older cities has not always been maintained to ensure desired and consistent electrical service, which can result in a range of issues for connected lighting devices that are more sensitive to anomalies than their unconnected counterparts. PNNL research in this area included exploring LED streetlight susceptibility to power quality issues. Key findings were presented at various conferences, including the DOE Lighting R&D Workshop, the IES Annual Conference, and Smart City Lighting Summit.
- Exploring the susceptibility of LED streetlights to power quality issues (Video with transcript, February 2021)
- Streetlight Faults Associated with Undervoltage Conditions and Methods for Automated Fault Detection (Report, in progress)