The program supports the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act through the increased use of energy efficiency by participating municipalities to annually reduce their electricity demand by three percent — equivalent to 1.8 million New York households — by 2025.
"New York is making incredible progress towards our climate agenda every day, and the latest example is the completion of the Smart Street Lighting NY program nearly three years ahead of schedule," Hochul said in a press release. "This common-sense program saves municipalities money and curbs statewide electricity use, and I urge New York communities to continue to work with state partners to advance energy-efficient upgrades."
Smart Street Lighting NY, and its goal to replace 500,000 streetlights with LED fixtures, began in 2018 and has been administered by the New York Power Authority. The New York State Public Service Commission has directly supported the program by facilitating the sale of streetlights from electric utilities to municipalities across the state.
"Municipalities across the state have been participating in the Smart Street Lighting NY program because it is among the most effective ways to upgrade critical energy infrastructure, save tax-payer dollars, and increase municipal energy efficiency. The Power Authority has partnered with more than 130 municipalities throughout New York to achieve the state's goal of replacing 500,000 streetlights with LED fixtures — an incredible achievement that has significantly reduced New York's electricity use. I'm especially proud of NYPA's role in leading this effort working with municipalities across the state," New York Power Authority President and CEO Justin E. Driscoll stated in the release.
"New York has long-encouraged municipalities to reduce their energy usage and demonstrate climate leadership. Implementing LED street-lighting options can play an important role in helping the State achieve its clean-energy goals in support of New York's nation-leading clean-energy initiatives," Public Service Commission Chair Rory M. Christian added in the release.
Albany, Utica, Rochester, Syracuse, White Plains, and others have already converted to LED streetlights in collaboration with NYPA.
NYPA is working with cities, towns, villages, and counties throughout New York to fully manage and implement a customer's transition to LED streetlight technology. NYPA provides upfront financing for the project, with payments to NYPA made in the years following from the cost-savings created by the reduced energy use of the LED streetlights, which are 50 to 65 percent more efficient than alternative street lighting options.
Through this statewide street lighting program, the Power Authority's government customers are provided a wide array of lighting options to help meet their individual needs, including specifications on the lights to incorporate SMART technology, which can be used for dozens of other functions, such as cameras and other safety features, weather sensors, and energy meters.
To further advance the state's effort to replace existing New York streetlights, in 2020, NYPA launched a new maintenance service to provide routine and on-call maintenance services for LED street lighting fixtures installed by NYPA throughout the state.
The new service is available to municipalities that have engaged the Power Authority to implement a LED street lighting conversion and have elected to install an asset management controls system on their street lighting system, reducing the number of failures and repairs needed after installation is complete.
© 2023 The Record, Troy, N.Y. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
