MANITOWOC, Wis. and GILBERT, Ariz., May 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: OESX) (Orion Lighting), a provider of enterprise-grade LED lighting and energy project solutions, and Arizona based energy solutions firm BC Energy Solutions, announced today that from October 2018 to March 2019, they completed $4.9M in LED lighting upgrade projects across nine states funded in part by helping clients secure nearly $1.3M in electric utility rebates.

The rebates provide added financial incentives for companies to prioritize their investment in converting to LED lighting systems and controls. In aggregate, the utility rebates amounted to over 26% of the total installation costs of the projects. Customers included a diverse base of businesses including manufacturing, paper production, grocery distribution, aircraft maintenance, auto parts, medical supplies, trucking and logistics.

These customers were drawn to Orion and BC Energy Solutions because they recognize the benefits of LED lighting, which consume 50% to 70% less electricity to deliver the same or superior illumination. Some of the companies were also attracted to Orion's IoT smart lighting controls which can provide both lighting control options (such as occupancy, daylight, or schedule control) and data collection capabilities for facility managers to analyze other areas of their operations. 

With a useful life of 10-20 years, the companies will realize a return on their investment from these LED lighting projects within 3-5 years – before any benefit from utility rebates.

Why do utilities offer financial incentives for deploying energy efficient LED lighting fixtures that consume less energy and therefore generate less revenue?
The answer is that many utilities are working actively to manage/reduce peak energy demand amongst their customers. Peak energy demand typically exists for only a few hours per day and otherwise demand for electricity is far lower.

Because electricity use continues to increase with an expanding population and rapid growth in electrical devices, utilities face enormous investment in new energy generation capabilities to keep up with peak power demand requirements. Rather than make large investments to support high usage levels occurring just a few hours per day, many utilities find it far more cost effective to invest in energy efficiency rebates or reward customers for time shifting their energy usage away from peak hours, to reduce peak demand and the large capital investments required to support peak power levels.

About BC Energy Solutions: (www.bcenergysaves.com)
BC Energy is a nationally recognized energy management and reduction firm with the mission of helping companies drastically reduce their energy consumption. With operations across the entire US, BC Energy not only provides local sites with turnkey energy reduction projects but also delivers enterprise-wide solutions. Trusted by notable Fortune 500 giants, and small to medium sized private businesses, BC Energy has set a new standard in commercial energy management.

About Orion Energy Systems, Inc. (www.orionlighting.com)
Orion is a provider of enterprise-grade LED lighting and energy project solutions. Orion manufactures and markets connected lighting systems encompassing LED solid-state lighting and smart controls. Orion systems incorporate patented design elements that deliver significant energy, efficiency, optical and thermal performance that drive financial, environmental, and work-space benefits for a wide variety of customers, including nearly 40% of the Fortune 500.

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Certain matters discussed in this press release, are "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements may generally be identified as such because the context of such statements will include words such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" or words of similar import. Similarly, statements that describe our future plans, objectives or goals, including business relationships with government customers, are also forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, the risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shareholders, potential investors and other readers are urged to consider risks and uncertainties carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements made herein are made only as of the date of this press release and we undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. More detailed information about factors that may affect our performance may be found in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available athttp://www.sec.gov or athttp://investor.oriones.com/ in the Investor Relations section of our Website. Except as required by applicable law, we assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements publicly or to update the reasons why actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

Twitter: @OrionLighting and @OrionLightingIR
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Orion Sales Contact
Josh Kurtz, SVP Sales
Orion Energy Systems, Inc.
(920) 892-5702

Media & Investor Relations Contacts
William Jones; Tanya Kamatu
Catalyst IR
(212) 924-9800 or oesx@catalyst-ir.com   

Source: Orion Energy Systems, Inc.