The village of Justice in Illinois has signed a second agreement with Viper Networks to install the company’s Apollo smart light poles and smart lights.
The first phase of this project will see the installation of 10 smart poles and 225 LED smart streetlights, including smart grid controller, luminaire, advanced IOT sensors and mobile WiFi, Viper says.
This marks the company’s second major project in the Greater Chicago Metro Area, where it plans to install 1,500 to 2,000 smart LED light poles and 6,400 smart street lights by 2025.
These deals follow the passing of the $1.2 trillion dollar Infrastructure Bill by the Biden Administration in 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which authorized $391 billion in spending on energy and climate change.
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With the availability of these funds and grants, the Village of Justice and the City of Palos Hills are taking proactive steps to address their current and future infrastructure needs. This includes adjusting street lighting, incorporating new sensing technologies and data analytics for smarter transportation, providing improved communication through free public Wi-Fi and enhancing security and traffic mitigation, all while reducing the environmental footprint and creating new revenue streams.
To support these efforts, Viper plans to make significant investments in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model with periodic state grants covering the City of Palos Hills’ cost, as well as the cost for other cities throughout the southwest Cook County Chicago Metro Area and beyond.
The company is also working with Global Sustainable Initiative of Chicago to establish PPPs with local government entities to secure a continuous flow of grants and private investments for the projects.
“All parties have done a great amount of due diligence over the last two years regarding critical infrastructure planned upgrades and Viper Networks Apollo LED Street Lights, Smart Pole technology and Smart Cities systems,” said Farid Shouekani, CEO of Viper Networks. “With agreements in place with these two key communities Viper Networks expect to secure $15 million in grants from the State of Illinois to complement $45 million investment from Viper Networks and Partners through the Public Private Partnership.”
Justice, was established in 1911 in Cook County. It is home to nearly 13,000 residents and close to 200 small businesses.
