30 August 2015

PRESS RELEASE– A solar street lamp recently “appeared on the scene” at the Marché de la Gare in Sherbrooke, near the Lac-des-Nations promenade. It is a PIVO solar lighting system designed by Sherbrooke company Lekla, which is using this location to unveil this promising technological showcase.

The installation is powered by a photovoltaic solar panel and includes an LED light fixture equipped with an innovative optical filter and two USB sockets to recharge various electrical devices… such as your cell phone! The patent-pending PIVO system is a smart, an innovative, and a green energy source that can be optimally controlled and managed remotely by its users.

The solar energy-storing batteries are incorporated into the street lamp’s stand-alone base and have a lighting capacity of four to five days without recharging. The unique underground placement of the batteries extends their lifetime and reduces the system’s installation and maintenance costs all year long. The installation, which does not require wiring or concrete blocks, can be done within a short time—less than 75 minutes at the Marché de la Gare site.

The technological showcase project, continuing until September 2016, came to fruition with support from Sherbrooke Innopole and the collaboration of the City of Sherbrooke and Destination Sherbrooke, which manages the Marché de la Gare site.

Lekla’s Director General, Sébastien Manseau, is pleased to see the product of five years of Sherbrooke R&D erected on such a busy site: “We are very happy to tangibly present our technological showcase here in Sherbrooke. This project, the entire cost of which we are assuming, will enable us to demonstrate the commercial potential of our system and to extend the reach of our technology to residents of the region, tourists, and business delegations. The street lamp installed on the PIVO provides power equivalent to that of traditional systems, providing reliable, durable, cost-effective, and stand-alone lighting. As a whole, the system can fulfil power needs where electricity is too costly or unavailable. In fact, in October, we are going with Écotech Québec to Cape Town in South Africa to promote it.”

Lekla is taking advantage of this showcase to incorporate another one of its innovations, a patented, environmentally friendly optical filter designed as an add-on for LED street lamps. This component reduces the amount of blue light emitted by LEDs (light-emitting diodes), thus reducing light pollution and its impacts on ecosystems. The entire system has been developed and manufactured in partnership with the Cégep de Sherbrooke. The technological showcase installed at the Marché de la Gare is also being used by the City of Sherbrooke as a test bed to test a solar-powered Wi‑Fi motorized camera.

“Lekla’s PIVO system is a green technology that is both cost-effective and versatile, with multiple applications to locations such as construction sites, bike trails, green spaces, parking lots, etc. There is a great development and export potential at the local, national, and global market levels, on which we are currently working,” said Myriam Bélisle, Counsellor—Cleantech key sector at Sherbrooke Innopole.

Sherbrooke Mayor Bernard Sévigny applauds the company’s initiative: “Lekla’s technological showcase once again demonstrates the spirit of innovation, vitality, and highly developed expertise of our companies, turning environmental concerns into technological breakthroughs. We are proud to have contributed to its development and we will follow, with interest, the results of the project, which is closely aligned with the smart city strategy we are currently working on as part of the Sherbrooke intelligente et innovante project.”

Sources : Sherbrooke Innopole and Lekla