NORWAY — The Board of Selectmen has voted to have Town Manager Dennis Lajoie write to RealTerm Energy advising that officials want to move forward with switching to LED streetlights.
The change, which first requires an inventory of streetlights, is expected to save energy and money.
Lajoie told selectmen Thursday evening that the letter of intent he drafted “kind of tells RealTerm Energy, ‘We want to work with you.’”
“We can’t enter into a contract with them yet because we haven’t voted on any money for it at a town meeting,” he said. “This is the first step that we need to take to move forward.”
Lajoie said Paris selectmen have signed a letter of intent, and that Oxford selectmen were voting on whether to sign one Thursday night.
Selectman Russell Newcomb said he didn’t see “any reason why we don’t do this.”
Town officials from Norway, Oxford, Paris and Poland met last month with Paul Vesel of RealTerm Energy, who told them the towns could save “somewhere between 75 and 80 percent” on streetlights if they switched to LED bulbs.
He also advised an audit of streetlights would determine the amount of savings.
At Thursday’s meeting, Newcomb said, “At that meeting, RealTerm Energy told us that in order to get the full benefit of the program, it helps to do this together,” Newcomb said. “If Paris and Oxford are considering it too, then I don’t see why don’t.”
He added, “We can’t figure out the savings we would get without getting an audit done, and we can’t do the audit without signing the letter of intent.”
RealTerm Energy specializes in LED conversions for municipalities. Among its projects are conversions in Wells, Biddeford, South Portland, Falmouth, Rockland and Mount Desert.
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