NEW YORK and LENOX, Mass., Feb. 20, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ESCO Energy Services ("ESCO") a wholly-owned subsidiary of ForceField Energy Inc. ("ForceField" or the "Company") (Nasdaq:FNRG), a seller and distributor of energy products and solutions, today announced that its ESCO subsidiary has entered into letter of intent agreements for two LED street light conversion projects as part of its previously announced selection to participate in the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities ("CCM") municipal Street Light LED Conversion Program. The installation of the projects in Plainville, CT and Cromwell, CT, with an estimated value in excess of $1 million, is expected to be completed by Q3 2015. The initial installations in both towns will include the conversion of more than 2,600 street light fixtures with an estimated annual savings of approximately $225,000.
As previously disclosed, ESCO is currently in active discussions with more than 20 communities which make up CCM's 153 member-communities; and currently estimates the revenue generation potential of streetlight projects to be between $25 and $30 million which will be recognized over a three-to-five year period.
Mitch Barack, ESCO's President and CEO stated, "We are excited to have been selected by Plainville and Cromwell, the first towns in Connecticut to implement an LED street light conversion under CCM's statewide municipal Street Light Conversion Program. We believe our ability to deliver a fully integrated street light acquisition and LED conversion program that incorporates an array of financing options provides us with a competitive advantage as we aggressively pursue other communities in Connecticut as well as the significant opportunities in other states and communities across the US. With increased state and federal initiatives including the Presidents Challenge for Advanced Outdoor Lighting and the DOE's Better Building Program, we believe we are only in the early stages of this multi-billion dollar market opportunity to switch to high efficiency lighting for street lights and other outdoor applications."
ESCO's innovative, turn-key Municipal LED Street Light Conversion Program aids communities in economically purchasing thousands of existing utility-owned street lights, and then converting them to state-of-the-art-LED technology. The program, which includes project assessment and planning though implementation and maintenance, also enables towns and cities to fully manage their own street lighting operations using Noveda Technology's proprietary next-generation street light management controls and monitoring which helps to "future-proof" a community's investment in LED technology. The management system provides clients full control, scheduling and individual energy metering, dimming and energy monitoring. It can enable wireless connectivity to central monitoring & controls providing client's access to a GPS mapping user interface that identifies the location and status of each fixture and provides a portal to maintenance records. In addition, the user interface, dashboards and analytics give clients a full monitoring system. An optional pole-hit detection technology and a host of other sensor inputs gear toward enhanced public safety are available. ESCO's Municipal Street Light Conversion Program is typically structured with no initial capital outlay required and is completely paid from the savings generated by the conversion thus generating immediate positive cash flow to the municipality. In addition, ESCO's also offers tax-exempt municipal lease financing to support potential LED project funding needs of the municipality.
The potential energy savings and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions from switching to high efficiency lighting in outdoor applications are significant. High efficiency lighting has limited market penetration in parking lots, parking garages, and streetlights, with recent estimates at 3% or less. For instance, based on the installed stock LED luminaire efficacies in 2012, the potential energy savings is about 650 TBtu annually, which equates to more than $6 billion ( approx. $2.3 billion from streetlights) and 40 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year. The benefits of high efficiency lighting go beyond savings. For example, LED lighting offers extremely long lifetimes, are directional light sources and thus able to limit light pollution and light trespass, are highly efficacious, function well in cold temperatures, are not affected by vibration, and are able to provide a high quality light. More information can be found in the DOE Fact Sheet. In addition, you can learn more by going to The Presidential Challenge for Advanced Outdoor Lighting which tripled the DOE Better Buildings program goal of upgrading 500,000 light poles, which is on track to be exceeded, to 1.5 million light poles by May 2016.
About ESCO Energy Services Company
ESCO Energy Services Company, Inc. is one of the longest-standing lighting retrofit companies in New England. As an industry pioneer, ESCO has an unparalleled track record of successfully completing state-of-the-art lighting conversions for federal, state, and municipal clients throughout the region and across North America. On a national level, ESCO is viewed as a company at the forefront of designing and delivering innovative LED street lighting and next-generation street light control solutions. Go to www.goesco.com. or www.lightingretrofit.com
About ForceField Energy Inc.
ForceField Energy Inc. and its subsidiaries comprise a global company whose products and solutions focus on sustainable energy solutions and improved energy efficiency. ForceField is a distributor of LED and other lighting products for a number of premier LED lighting manufacturers; and through its award-winning subsidiaries, American Lighting and ESCO, have completed lighting installations and retrofits as well as energy efficiency upgrades, for numerous high profile concerns in a variety of industries. ForceField is also a licensee of modular, heat recovery systems that convert waste heat into clean electricity. www.forcefieldenergy.com
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward looking. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "future," "anticipates" or anticipated," "believes," "estimated" or "estimates," "plan" or "planned," "expects" or "projected." These forward-looking
statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond ForceField's control that may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. Some of the factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained herein include (i) failure to obtain adequate financing to achieve the Company's LED revenue targets and to support working capital needs; (ii) successful installation and efficacy of the Company's LED lighting products; (iii) expansion of the Company's product offerings and services to additional states across the U.S., (iv) generating additional revenue from the Company's expected national expansion program, (v) competition within the LED industry both domestically and internationally, (vi) efficacy of ESCO's streetlight product offering, (vii) generating $25-30 million dollars from the streetlight program over the next three to five years, (viii) generating revenue from these letters of intent in Q-3 2015 and (ix) other factors, without limitation, which are set forth in documents we file from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available at www.sec.gov. For a written description of these factors, see the section titled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2013 and any updating information in subsequent SEC filings. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update these forward-looking statements whether as a result of subsequent events or otherwise, except as required by law.