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Arkon Deepens Relationship With Tampa Port on Dock Lighting Project

Posted on by Arkon Power

The LED solutions expert provided the most competitive bid for a massive retrofit at Port Tampa Bay.

Port Tampa Bay needed a major lighting overhaul at its sprawling downtown docking center. So the state’s largest and most diverse commercial port turned to a supplier that had served it well in the past—Arkon Power.

Arkon first worked with Port Tampa Bay in the summer of 2015, when the LED supplier retrofitted the port’s highly visible atrium lighting. This time around, Arkon was tapped for a much larger project: replacing 120 metal halide floodlights with long lasting, efficient LEDs.

Where the metal halide bulbs had been 1,000 watts apiece, Arkon was able to engineer a solution using 320-watt standard LED floodlights.

“This was all on the loading docks where they bring the ships in,” Arkon Technical Manager Graham Brown said. “The poles are about 150 feet from the water and shining out to illuminate the water’s edge where the ships unload. It was a very cool project.”

Brown said the LED lights, which were replaced roughly one-to-one on existing light poles and placed about 45 feet up, easily achieved the required 5 foot-candles on the ground throughout the Port Tampa Bay loading dock. Brown and his team completed a photometric plan (i.e., a computer lighting simulation) to show the proposed design met the port’s criteria. After installation was complete, the team conducted a site review using a light meter and confirmed the numbers matched the plan.

“The lights were spread around four different docks, and each required a slightly different alignment, with up to six fixtures on each pole,” Brown said. “We experimented with a variety of optics and fixture orientations.”

In addition to offering its advanced engineering expertise, Arkon was able to offer Port Tampa Bay the most cost-effective bid among multiple suppliers. Arkon’s previous successes working with the port and warranty offerings also set it apart from the competition.

“The port is a government agency, so there are more details required for the bid and a more extensive bidding process,” Brown said. “It’s something we’re very comfortable with, and we look forward to more projects like it in the future.”

Email Info@ArkonPower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon Power’s other industrial lighting projects.

Arkon Designs LED Lighting Solution for Industrial Power Plan in Wauchula, Florida

Posted on by Arkon Power

Small-town power company selects Arkon for lighting upgrade, community leadership

Cutting energy costs isn’t a big deal for Vandolah Power Co. The company in the city of Wauchula in Hardee County, Florida., literally makes its own power.

But Vandolah was interested in being efficient, in being “good stewards of our resources,” according to EHS Manager Calvin Bates. The firm is an anchor of its small community—a major employer and a model for other businesses.

So when Vandolah looked to update its interior and exterior lighting fixtures, it solicited bids from a variety of vendors to find an optimal LED Lighting solution. Arkon Power, with Sales Representative Ira Timmerman spearheading the project, produced the most attractive bid with the most efficient lighting plan.

“LEDs were our primary focus, although we would have considered alternatives if they were more efficient,” Bates said. “We went with LEDs because we believed they were the most efficient technologies for our purposes…We can buy lights anywhere, but Arkon’s attention to detail and willingness to accommodate were invaluable.”

For the power company’s interior, Arkon Technical Manager Graham Brown and his team retrofitted Vandolah’s offices, power making facilities and warehouses with 349 LED tubes, corn cobs, troffers and high bays with motion sensors.

“Their bulbs were only lasting a few weeks,” Brown said. “And their workers previously had to wear headlamps to be able to see. Now they don’t.”

On the building’s exterior, Arkon replaced Vandolah’s legacy metal halide bulbs with 253 wall packs, area lights, flood lights and street lights. All told, the lighting upgrade reduced Vandolah’s power costs by about 60%, while increasing light output and eliminating costly maintenance.

Bates said that while Arkon’s initial bid drew Vandolah’s attention, it was the company’s customer service throughout the project that truly impressed.

“Arkon went over our current lighting, listened to our needs and developed a plan,” he said. “Then they worked with us as we prioritized and went through the transition to LEDs. They were always available when questions or installation issues arose and followed up with diligence. The project was pretty seamless. We worked in phases quarterly to ensure installers were not overwhelmed, and though with any project there are minor hiccups, with Arkon’s assistance these were handled with ease and efficiency.”

Email Info@ArkonPower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon’s Commercial LED projects.

Arkon, Port Tampa Bay Team for Artistic Illumination

Posted on by Arkon Power

LED lighting has given the Port a refined look for less while slashing maintenance costs.

Arkon LED recently completed an LED retrofit for Port Tampa Bay that will save the commercial hub more than 85% on its atrium lighting costs while making the entryway more attractive and flexible.

“Initially, the contract was just a light bulb replacement, then it was extended to include the replacement of the Port’s old incandescent fixtures with color changing LEDs,” LED Sales Guy Greg Papandrew said. “The lights used to be able to change between red, white and blue—now it is all that and more. The Port atrium can be lit up all pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, all green for St. Patrick’s Day or red and green for Christmas.”

Papandrew worked closely with Port IT Coordinator Barbara Heisserer throughout the project, focusing on a solution that could save the organization thousands of dollars in maintenance costs. According to Heisserer, the theater lights formerly used to illuminate the atrium would burn out in weeks, forcing the Port to keep the area darkened most of the time. The challenge for the maintenance crew was accessing the lights around the large globe that sits in the center of the room. Positioned 60 feet in the air at the corners of the structure, the fixtures were too high for a straight, one-man lift.

“It took four 60-foot scaffold piers just to access all the lights,” Papandrew said. “The joke was: What does it take to change a light bulb at the Port? Well, $10,000, six scaffolding people and two electricians.”

Arkon LED was able to replace the incandescent lights with fewer LED fixtures while achieving greater light levels and more efficient distribution. Based on a national average power cost of $0.11 per kilowatt-hour, the Port incurred about $947 in power costs per month when all of its incandescent lights were functioning. Arkon’s LED fixtures cost the City of Tampa only $136 per month.

On top of the power and maintenance savings, Arkon was able to install wireless controls in the Port atrium, meaning each of the lights can now be individually controlled.

“It was one of those projects were I knew we could help this client,” Director of Business Development Eleni Lelekis said. “But not even I knew at the start just how much we could do for them.”

Email Info@ArkonPower.com to learn more about this or any of Arkon’s industrial LED Lighting projects.