Dec. 6—After Public Service Company of New Mexico replaces about 1,100 of Santa Fe’s more than 2,000 street lighting fixtures from sodium vapor to LEDs this year, it will turn off the city’s remaining lights in early 2025.
The Santa Fe City Council voted at a meeting last month to amend its contract with PNM for the streetlight conversion. The project is expected to start in January, said Santa Fe traffic engineer Michael Dalmolin, and will use the same contractors, Titan Electric.
He said the project would proceed “very quickly and smoothly.”
The city in recent years began converting all 3,500 street lighting fixtures it owns to LEDs in a controversial project that drew the ire of dark sky advocates, who noted that more light pollution could occur if the new lights are too bright would be.
After facing opposition to the lighting conversion, the city formed a steering committee in 2021 to consider the public’s concerns and make recommendations on what would become an effort to replace 5,500 streetlights from high-pressure sodium lamps to energy-saving LEDs. The names of the committee members were initially withheld due to what city officials described as “aggressive” correspondence from opponents of the project.
Until earlier this year, more than 2,000 PNM sodium vapor fixtures remained in the city. Over the summer, the city contracted with PNM for $568,511 to convert about 1,100 of its light bulbs. With the contract extension, all PNM lighting fixtures will be converted.
The amendment increases the city’s contract with PNM by up to $480,000, although Dalmolin said it may cost less. The additional money came from a slew of one-time funding allocations the City Council made this summer, Public Works Director Regina Wheeler said in a recent interview.
“We had money set aside for PNM to make their lights way back when we started the project to convert our own lights,” she said. “So we spent that money that was set aside at the time, and then we had to find some more, and then the one-time appropriation provided the opportunity to finance the rest of the renovation.”
Along with energy efficiency, the project was intended to alleviate an ongoing problem of burned-out light bulbs, which had caused frustration among residents who complained that the darkness created hazards.
In January 2019, the driver of a city snowplow struck two pedestrians as they tried to cross Galisteo Street at Paseo de Peralta, a downtown intersection darkened by streetlight failures.
Dalmolin said the completed street lighting conversion is expected to pay for itself within four to five years thanks to lower energy costs.
“It obviously helps the city budget and also keeps street lights on because the LEDs last more than a decade,” Dalmolin said. “The reason we save money is because PNM doesn’t have to repair them as often because they are much more reliable.”
According to previous estimates from PNM, the new light bulbs will save the city $135,000 in energy and maintenance costs each year.
Dalmolin said the first phase of PNM’s conversion was uneventful and lasted about two months, a time frame he said will be similar for the second phase.
The city offers streetlight shades upon request to prevent unwanted light from entering properties and received about 20 requests after the first phase of the PNM conversion, Dalmolin said. Requests must go through the city and not through PNM; those who want one can contact Dalmolin directly at mrdalmolin@santafenm.gov or the city’s Constituent Services Department at santafenm.gov/city-clerk-community-engagement/cs.
