MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In recognition of Earth Day, the City of Milpitas is celebrating the construction of new sustainable microgrids and a number of city-wide water and energy conservation initiatives; all part of its Smart City infrastructure program. Delivered in collaboration with ENGIE North America, 10 water and energy infrastructure improvement measures in the construction phase of the initiative are either complete or nearing completion. Combined, these measures will enhance community services and safety, contribute to the city’s Climate Action Plan and resiliency goals, and reduce its operations, maintenance, and utility costs.
As of today, the City of Milpitas and ENGIE have completed work on water upgrades to 25 public buildings and parks; 2,185 LED streetlight retrofits; 4,453 streetlight controls upgrades with outage detection; and city-wide LED lighting upgrades in parks, sports fields, city buildings, and community facilities.
Projects nearing completion include two landmark microgrid projects at the Milpitas Senior Center and Milpitas Community Center. The microgrids incorporate a 200 kW solar photovoltaic system and energy storage capabilities, enabling the city to reduce its reliance on energy from the utility at these locations and providing a source of clean backup power.
In addition, Milpitas and ENGIE are close to completing the rollout of 15,600 advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) water meters with leak detection; supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and remote communication systems, pumping and automated water treatment; and electric vehicle charging stations.
Milpitas’ trailblazing infrastructure program is expected to drive transformational energy efficiencies for the municipality by reducing utility consumption by more than 4.2 million kWh of electricity per year. This is equivalent to the average consumption from 388 households or 335,000 gallons of gas consumed. This reduction is anticipated to save more than $1.5 million in energy and water costs per year, for a net lifetime savings from the project of over $30 million.
In recognition of the innovative approach taken by Milpitas and ENGIE, the city has been honored with a “Smart 50” award. A partnership between Smart Cities Connect and the Smart Cities Connect Foundation, the annual Smart 50 Awards recognizes the most innovative and influential Smart City projects from around the world.
Mayor Rich Tran shares that, “The city is proud to be at the forefront of Smart City infrastructure development. We are now entering the next phase of our journey, with our deployments ready to be operationalized. We look forward to marking this milestone at our unveiling event this Earth Day and welcome all Milpitas residents to attend and learn about the environmental improvements they’ll benefit from in the months and years ahead.”
Courtney Jenkins Vice President and Head of Distributed Energy Solutions at ENGIE North America adds: “The City of Milpitas is a best-practice example of what can be achieved at the nexus of Smart City solutions and energy. As recognized by the Smart 50 Awards, Milpitas is amongst the few global leaders in this field and should be seen as a template for other U.S. cities as we all look to a more sustainable and fiscally responsible energy future.”
The city will host its unveiling ceremony this April 23 at 10:00 AM at the City of Milpitas Community Center parking lot at 457 E. Calaveras Blvd., Milpitas, CA, 95035. Elected officials will provide brief remarks at the outdoor socially distanced event and light refreshments will be served.
About the City of Milpitas
Located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay, Milpitas is a progressive community that is an integral part of Silicon Valley. A full-service city with water utility, sewer utility, police and fire services, Milpitas celebrates a diverse population of 80,273. Under a Council-Manager form of government, the City Council has established the following seven priority areas of service and policy: public safety, environment, transportation and transit, economic development and job growth, neighborhoods and housing, community wellness and open space, and governance and administration. For more information, visit: www.ci.milpitas.ca.gov
About ENGIE North America
ENGIE North America Inc. offers a range of capabilities in the United States and Canada to help our customers achieve their sustainability goals as we work together to shape a sustainable future. Our comprehensive services include helping run facilities more efficiently and optimize energy and other resource use and costs; clean power generation; energy storage; and retail energy supply that includes renewable, demand response, and on-bill financing options. Nearly 100% of the company’s power generation portfolio is low-carbon or renewable. ENGIE S.A. is a global organization focused on low-carbon energy and services, that relies on its key businesses (gas, renewable energy, services) to offer competitive solutions to its customers. With 170,000 employees, along with its customers, partners and stakeholders, the group is committed to accelerating the transition to a carbon-neutral world through reduced energy consumption and more environmentally friendly solutions. For more information on ENGIE North America, please visit our LinkedIn page or Twitter feed, www.engie-na.com and www.engie.com.
