Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced that New York has now replaced more than 286,000 of its streetlights with LED fixtures, surpassing the halfway milestone in the state's goal to replace at least 500,000 streetlights with LED technology by 2025 under Smart Street Lighting NY. The street lighting initiative — administered by the New York Power Authority — is improving lighting quality and neighborhood safety while reducing energy and lighting maintenance costs across the entire state. The initiative also directly supports the goals of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection 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.
"Municipalities of all sizes across New York have been rapidly converting their streetlights to LED technology under the Smart Street Lighting NY program," Governor Hochul said in the release. "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. We are well on our way to exceeding the state's ambitious goal to replace 500,000 street lighting fixtures by 2025."
The Power Authority has installed more than 71,000 LED streetlights statewide, with nearly 60,000 lighting replacements currently being installed. Some of the more than 100 municipalities that have already converted to LED streetlights in collaboration with NYPA include: Syracuse, Albany, Rochester, and White Plains.
In addition, the Public Service Commission, working with investor-owned utilities around the state, has facilitated the installation of more than 215,000 additional LED streetlights.
For more information on the Smart Street Lighting NY initiative, read the original press release.