Title
Resolution to Accept Carbon Reduction Program Grant Funds from Southeast Michigan Council of Governments, Execute a Contract with DTE Energy to Convert DTE Streetlights to LED Technology ($1,250,000.00) and Appropriate Funding (8 Votes Required)
Memorandum
Attached for your review and consideration is a resolution authorizing acceptance of Carbon Reduction Program grant funds, and authorizing execution of a contract with DTE Energy, to convert DTE streetlights to Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology.
There are over 9,000 streetlights in the City of Ann Arbor public rights-of-way, with the majority - over 5,000 - owned and maintained by DTE Energy. A majority of the DTE streetlight subgroup - 4,087 - use high pressure sodium (HPS) technology, which is becoming obsolete. Conversion of all streetlights to light-emitting diode (LED) technology would be 1.2-3 times more efficient and has been a policy goal of the City's for several years, most recently formalized in the A2Zero Carbon Neutrality plan. In addition to the positive environmental impact due to less electricity used by LED streetlights, a conversion would also result in ongoing financial savings through reduced energy use resulting in lower cost burden to the City to lease these assets from DTE. Lastly, the conversion is expected to result in less outages since LED streetlights have generally been shown to be more reliable and have a longer lifespan than other fixture types.
In 2021, City staff asked DTE to prepare an estimate of the cost required to convert all remaining HPS lights to LED. The project cost estimate provided at that time was $1.24 million, without a clear funding source for the upfront capital costs. In 2023, staff were able to find a funding source to assist with 80% of the capital costs of the project by applying for the newly established Carbon Reduction Program grant administered by the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG).
Prior to the implementation of t...
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