Every year in Florida, baby sea turtles scurry from their nests at night and make their way to the ocean. Thousands of nests are laid every year on Florida’s beaches. Tourists from around the world travel to Florida, which is home to over 90% of all sea turtle nesting in the continental United States, to see the turtles hatch.

Unfortunately, light pollution can lead baby sea turtles away from the ocean. In addition, artificial lighting can interfere with sea turtles coming ashore to lay eggs. Since sea turtles use natural light to navigate their way to the ocean, light pollution can distract them, leading them away from the safety of the ocean and into populated areas where they can die from fatigue, dehydration or other threats.

Working with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to protect these creatures, Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) is utilizing its existing Itron wireless mesh network to monitor and control 500,000 smart streetlights. Prior to making its streetlights “smart,” FPL would dispatch crews to all the streetlights on roadways near nesting sites and disable the lights for the turtle season (typically March through October). This was an imperfect process. Now with its connected smart streetlights, the energy company is able to program the streetlights to be off during hatching season and monitor the status of the lights to know if they are on when they shouldn’t be (e.g. after maintenance).

Itron’s network and smart streetlight control equip companies like FPL to remotely control lighting while laying the groundwork for other smart city services. For each company, the reason for smart lighting can meet different needs. For Florida, it’s about sea turtles – for other cities, this technology can enhance public safety or monitor air quality.

At this year’s Itron Utility Week (IUW) in Marco Island, Florida, we’re all about the power of community. By bringing together industry leaders, we believe we can find solutions to universal and specific problems facing utilities and cities around the world. Our ability to transform the industry lies in community – and that community includes all species that share our planet.

Learn more about IUW 2019 here.