The New York Power Authority (NYPA) has completed the installation of energy-efficient LED streetlights throughout the Village of Port Jefferson as part of the state’s
Smart Street Lighting NY program. The energy efficiency project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 500 metric tons a year— the equivalent of taking more than 100 cars off the road. New York has now replaced more than 300,000 of its streetlights with LED fixtures, a significant milestone in the state’s goal to replace at least 500,000 streetlights with LED technology by 2025 under Smart Street Lighting NY.
The nearly US$ 2.4 million upgrade, implemented and financed by the Power Authority, included the replacement of more than 1100 decorative and cobra head style streetlights throughout the village with energy-saving LED fixtures. Additionally, the village has installed SMART technology throughout their community to enhance public safety and manage the village more efficiently. As part of the project, the Power Authority replaced more than 700 additional interior and exterior lighting fixtures at village buildings and parks. NYPA provided Port Jefferson with US$ 225,000 in SMART city funding grants to support the project, which began in October 2020.
“NYPA’s partnership with the Village of Port Jefferson demonstrates New York’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint,” said Sarah Salati, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer, NYPA. “Smart Street Lighting NY offers municipalities a common-sense, fiscally responsible energy solution that upgrades critical infrastructure and helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
“This has been, and will continue to be, a great project for the Village of Port Jefferson,” said Mayor Margot Garant, Port Jefferson. “Any project that protects the environment while reducing costs to our taxpayers is a benefit to both. The New York Power Authority made it easy, and now we can proudly say we are a greener village.”
The city will benefit from a new asset management system to monitor and control the entire streetlight system, providing localized dimming options and outage reporting. The project also included the installation of flood and ice detection sensors on various streets throughout the village. The new fixtures include individual hubs for future SMART technology additions.
Some additional municipalities that have already converted to LED streetlights in collaboration with NYPA include: Albany, Utica, Rochester, Syracuse, and White Plains, among others.
The street lighting initiative directly supports the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (the Climate Act), the most aggressive climate change law in the nation, through the increased use of energy efficiency to annually reduce electricity demand by three percent — equivalent to 1.8 million New York households — by 2025.
Smart Street Lighting NY
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 50-65% more efficient than alternative street lighting options.
Through this statewide street lighting program, NYPA’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, Wi-Fi and energy meters.
To further advance the state’s effort to replace existing New York street lighting, 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 NYPA 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.
To learn more about the Smart Street Lighting NY program, visit the program webpage on NYPA’s website.
