Pittsburgh to spend $2.2M on LED streetlight conversion study

Pittsburgh City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved spending $2.2 million to study converting the city’s existing high-pressure sodium lights with more energy-efficient LED lights.

Kim Lucas, director of the city’s Department of Mobility & Infrastructure, said LED lights consume less electricity and will likely have lower maintenance costs compared to the older lights in place across the city now.

The study also will analyze where streetlights could be added or removed.

Officials are looking at LED fixtures that would come with dimming options and could be shaded or directed to keep lights from disrupting people in nearby houses.

The study and design work is expected to take about a year. Converting the city’s lights to LEDs would take about another two years, officials said.

Pittsburgh has been considering the LED conversion for years. In 2021, City Council authorized a $16 million investment in the LED modernization project, which would have included planning, design and construction.

The city did not move ahead with the project at that time. Officials instead decided to split the contract into two parts.

In authorizing the $2.2 million contract with The Efficiency Network for the LED conversion study, the city is launching the first phase. The Efficiency Network is a subsidiary of Duquesne Light.

Officials will need to award a separate contract at a later date for construction and installation.

The overall project lost a portion of its funding since the initial $16 million allocation was approved in 2021. City Council last year moved $1 million of American Rescue Plan Act money that was earmarked for the project to instead pay for a program to alleviate medical debt for some city residents. Officials have said they plan to replenish those funds.

The project has $15 million earmarked, including $3 million in American Rescue Plan Act money and $12 million in bond money.