Cities make upgrades, receive Heartland grants

The cities of White, Groton and Madison, South Dakota all recently received grants from Heartland for making energy efficiency upgrades. Each city upgraded to more efficient lighting with incentives from the Power Forward grant program.

White is in the process of replacing a portion of the city’s street lights with LED bulbs. Twelve 400 watt high pressure sodium lights on Main Street are being replaced with 244 watt LEDs. The project is expected to save the city 12,085 kWh per year, equaling just over $1,000 annually. The project will pay for itself in savings in just over six years. The city received a grant from Heartland for $3,300.

The city of Groton upgraded lighting in one of their city shops from incandescent to T8s. The city struggled with inadequate lighting and the upgrade to T8s provided better illumination as well as cost savings. The city replaced 14 300 watt incandescents fixtures with 6-bulb T8 fixtures, which is expected to provide annual cost savings of over $600 with a simple payback of fewer than five years. Groton received a grant from Heartland for $1,500 to complete the project.

In Madison, city officials replaced all of the lighting at the city armory with LED fixtures. This was part of a renovation project that included replacing all of the ceiling tile. The armory is used for a variety of activities including sporting events and practices and community events such as the annual “Day with Santa.” The city completed the project in two phases and expects total energy savings of 38,000 kWh and cost savings of $3,200 annually. The city replaced 32 400 watt metal halide fixtures and 14 fluorescent fixtures with 153 watt and 37 watt LEDs, respectively. With a simple payback of less than 7 years, Madison received two energy efficiency grants from Heartland, one for each phase of the project, for $5,000 each.

For more information on Heartland’s energy efficiency grant program, contact Ann Hyland at (605) 256-6536 orahyland@hcpd.com.