The “Smart Street Lighting NY” program has replaced more than 286,000 of New York State’s streetlights with LED fixtures, surpassing the halfway milestone of the state’s 500,000-streetlight goal by 2025, the New York Power Authority (NYPA) has reported.
A facet of New York’s aggressive Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act climate change law, the program aims to improve street lighting quality and neighborhood safety while cutting energy and lighting maintenance costs, NYPA stated. The public power organization added the law seeks to reduce the state’s annual electricity demand through energy efficiency measures by 2025.
“Municipalities of all sizes across New York have been rapidly converting their streetlights to LED technology under the Smart Street Lighting NY program,” remarked New York Gov. Kathy Hochul. “The new LED street lighting fixtures are a critical infrastructure improvement for the state as they reduce electric costs, improve safety, and save money for local governments. I was excited to announce this program in 2018 and in a little more than three years, we’ve surpassed the halfway mark.”
NYPA pointed out that it has installed more than 71,000 LED streetlights in more than 100 municipalities statewide, adding that nearly 60,000 lighting replacements are underway. The power authority also noted the state’s Public Service Commission, working with investor-owned utilities, has enabled more than 215,000 additional LED streetlights to be installed.
“Smart Street Lighting NY has been an enormous success story for the state and NYPA intends to aggressively continue the installation of LED street lighting and we are on track to not only meet, but to exceed the governor’s goal of 500,000 LED streetlights installed by 2025,” commented NYPA President and CEO Gil C. Quiniones. “The program, which also offers municipalities the ability to expand SMART city technologies that meet a city’s individual needs, is a win-win for the state and our customers as it reduces energy use, improves safety and municipal government efficiency, and saves money.”
Under the Smart Street Lighting NY program, NYPA provides upfront financing for cities, towns, villages, and counties to transition to LED streetlights. The organization explained that it receives payments from the localities in subsequent years as a result of cost-savings from reduced energy usage. It contends the LED streetlights are 50-65% more efficient than alternatives.
The NYPA-supplied video below provides additional details about Smart Street Lighting NY.
