The New York Power Authority and the City of Glen Cove announced the completion of energy-efficient LED streetlights installed throughout the city as part of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo's Smart Street Lighting NY program. The project will save the city more than $97,000 in annual energy and maintenance costs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 250 tons per year-the equivalent of taking approximately 50 cars off the road. 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 $780,000 upgrade, financed and implemented by NYPA, includes the replacement of nearly 1,400 streetlights throughout the city with energy-saving LED fixtures, improving lighting quality and neighborhood safety while reducing energy and maintenance costs. 

The lighting improvements include the replacement of the decorative streetlights throughout the downtown streets, improving public safety and supporting the growing economic activity at shops and restaurants in the area. The lighting in the city parking garage will also be upgraded as part of the project. 

"The replacement of street lighting with efficient LED fixtures is helping Glen Cove and other municipalities across the state reduce energy and maintenance costs, and improve safety, while also protecting the environment," said Gil C. Quiniones, NYPA president and CEO. "Under the Governor's Smart Street Lighting NY program, NYPA is in the process of replacing tens of thousands of streetlights across the state and fully expects to exceed the Governor's goal of replacing 500,000 lights by 2025."

"The upgrade of the LED lights to the City of Glen Cove is not only an economic benefit to the City but also an aesthetic one," Glen Cove Mayor Tim Tenke said. "The new lighting downtown has made it brighter and safer for our residents. The upgrades throughout the neighborhoods are also proving to be beneficial to dimly lit areas as well as much appreciated by the homeowners. I want to thank Rocco Graziosi from our DPW Department for coordinating and overseeing the project as its being rolled out in our City. And I also wish to thank the NYPA for efficiently getting the work done in the City; they were able to upgrade approximately 1,400 streetlights to LED fixtures in an expeditious manner."

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 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.

The program 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. To learn more about the Smart Street Lighting NY program, visit the program webpage on NYPA's website.

NYPA | www.nypa.gov