Found via Bill Attardi's excellent, redesigned lighting and energy news blog, Energy Watch News (check it out, bookmark it, pull an RSS feed, it's a great source of breaking news), it seems that despite all the work and enthusiasm going on around energy efficiency and the push to upgrade roadway lighting systems to LED sources, sometimes a city will change its mind.
The Modesto City Council could pull the plug on a proposed $10.76 million deal with Siemens Industry to have the global company replace about 9,500 streetlights with longer-lasting, more efficient ones and conduct other upgrades to reduce the city’s energy costs and its carbon footprint. City officials are recommending the council not approve a 15-year agreement with Siemens to finance the work. Officials have called this a self-funded, clean-energy project because the city would use the money it saves on utility bills and operations costs to pay Siemens and have money left over, but city officials now have questions about the project’s financing.
The importance of financing in making these deals work maybe the most underappreciated factor in growing this market.
Energy Watch News: MODESTO, CA COULD PULL PLUG ON ENERGY PROJECT