TerraGo, a leader in smart city and utility infrastructure maintenance solutions, announced that the City of Chicago’s deployment of TerraGo’s streetlight operations software was selected as the winner of a 2022 World Smart City Award. The World Smart City Awards is presented annually by the Smart City Expo World Congress (SCEWC) in Barcelona, Spain, to acknowledge the most outstanding initiatives and projects in the innovation and urban transformation industry. From over 300 entries from over 60 countries around the world, the City of Chicago system was chosen as the winner of the Energy and Environment category, for its acceleration of energy savings, reduced carbon footprint, increased operational efficiency and improved citizen services. 

"It is an honor to be recognized for our achievements in efficiency and climate-friendly programming," said Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. "The Chicago Smart Lighting Program makes our city greener and brighter while producing massive energy savings, bringing countless benefits to our residents citywide. I am grateful to TerraGo for accelerating the deployment of our lighting network and helping us to earn this award and set the standard for streetlight operations systems."

The Chicago Smart Lighting Program, a massive streetlight modernization project, has improved the quality of nighttime visibility throughout the city and is projected to save Chicago taxpayers $100 million in electricity costs over the next ten years. The modernization project converted more than 280,000 outdated, hazy orange High-Pressure Sodium (HPS) streetlights, to high-efficiency, networked LED lights. The prime contractor for the program was Ameresco, a national leader in the field of energy efficiency.

The project also creates one of the largest and most reliable smart technology infrastructure systems in the world. The TerraGo StreetlightOps software integrates seamlessly with Itron’s smart streetlight central management system, SLV, as well as the City’s GIS and 311 systems, to enable automated mobile work orders and intelligent field operations that improve efficiency, lower maintenance expenses and improve citizen services.  

“We are thrilled to be chosen by Smart Cities Expo World Congress for our work with the City of Chicago,” said Dave Basil, President & CEO at TerraGo Technologies. “As progressive cities like Chicago deploy networked lighting, modern infrastructure and smart city sensors, there is an opportunity to reengineer operations and work smart in ways never before possible.  We are especially grateful for our collaboration with the City of Chicago, their trust in our people and our software to seize this opportunity and realize their smart city operations vision.”