The New York Power Authority is partnering with the Town of Skaneateles to install energy-efficient LED streetlights throughout the village as part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Smart Street Lighting NY program. The energy efficiency project will save the town more than $36,000 annually and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 75 metric tons a year. Smart Street Lighting NY is a statewide program that calls for at least 500,000 streetlights throughout the state to be replaced with LED technology by 2025. The program advances Governor Cuomo's Green New Deal, a nation-leading clean energy and jobs agenda that will aggressively put New York State on a path to economy-wide carbon neutrality. The installation will begin this month and comply with all Covid-19 precautions outlined in the Governor's NY Forward plan.

The more than $380,000 upgrade, implemented and financed by the Power Authority, includes the replacement of 265 streetlights throughout the city with energy-saving LED fixtures and installation of SMART technology. NYPA is also providing Skaneateles with $20,000 in funding support for the project, which will allow the addition of security lights in parks and remote conservation areas.

"NYPA is working with municipalities across New York to modernize their streetlight fixtures and move the state into the future," said Gil Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO. "The replacement of hundreds of streetlights in Skaneateles is a demonstration of the state's steadfast commitment to fighting climate change and saving taxpayer money through innovative energy programs."

"The Town of Skaneateles will be the first small community in this area, outside of the City of Syracuse, to purchase and upgrade our 265 streetlights to energy efficient LED technology thanks to a collaborative relationship between Central New York Regional Planning and Development Board, the New York Power Authority and Guth DeConzo Engineering and Construction Management Company," Town of Skaneateles Supervisor Janet L. Aaron said. "With a $50,000 Clean Energy Communities Program grant through NYSERDA, the Town purchased our 265 streetlights from National Grid with an estimated savings per year of $36,000. The town is very thankful to all agencies that worked cooperatively to bring this project to the Town of Skaneateles."

The town will benefit from a new asset management system to monitor and control the entire streetlight system, providing localized dimming options and outage reporting. The new fixtures will also create individual hubs for future SMART technology additions.

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, NYPA's government customers are provided a wide-array of lighting options to help meet their community's 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 Governor's effort to replace existing New York street lighting, NYPA announced earlier this year a new maintenance program to allow contractors to provide routine and on-call maintenance services for LED street lighting fixtures installed by NYPA throughout the state. The new service will be 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 the installation is complete.

NYPA has installed-or is in the process of installing-more than 90,000 LED streetlights at municipalities across the state. To learn more about the Smart Street Lighting NY program, visit the program webpage on NYPA's website.

NYPA | www.nypa.gov