CPS Energy collaborates on smart streetlight sensor program

by Ethan Howland
APPA News
December 9, 2020

CPS Energy is teaming up with the city of San Antonio, AT&T and Itron to use smart technology to make streetlights more efficient and to be used as sources of environmental data collection.

Under the pilot project, AT&T and Itron are installing 45 smart streetlight sensors in three “innovation zones” in San Antonio, according to CPS Energy, San Antonio’s city-owned public power utility.

The sensors will include remote lighting controls and up to five “smart” use case applications: parking sensing, air quality, temperature, ambient noise and flood sensing, CPS Energy said Dec. 8.

The sensors on CPS Energy’s LED streetlights will tell the utility how its assets are functioning in near real-time, while improving service levels for customers.

The six-month pilot project is part of SmartSA, a consortium that includes CPS Energy, San Antonio, and other local entities. The effort aims to use data and technology to build a connected, inclusive and resilient community that supports high quality of life, according to the public power utility.

The pilot project will include data analysis to help CPS Energy determine how to use the sensors to best serve San Antonio and align with the city’s climate action and adaptation plan and ozone attainment goals, the public power utility said.

CPS Energy and SmartSA will prioritize protecting public privacy as it works on the pilot project and future smart city initiatives, according to the utility.

San Antonio’s innovation zones were established in 2017 to test new technologies. In a survey last year, city residents identified environmental quality, pedestrian safety and traffic congestion as key challenges in the zones, according to CPS Energy.

Setting up pilot projects in the zones is the first step towards developing practical solutions to the challenges, the utility said.

CPS Energy and its partners plan to assess the pilot project in the summer before installing the sensors across the city.

CPS Energy serves 840,750 electric customers and 352,585 natural gas customers in and around San Antonio.