THOMPSON — The Town of Thompson will start being more energy-efficient once they convert their high-pressure sodium street lamps with a light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

The town was recently awarded a Smart City Grant of up to $120,000 from the New York Power Authority (NYPA). The Smart Street Lighting NY program was created to help communities convert their street lights to LED technology. The program has a goal to convert 500,000 street lights state-wide by 2025.

According to Town Supervisor Bill Rieber Jr., parts of the town are already using LED street lamps; one of those places is Resorts World Catskill Casino.

Other towns in Sullivan County, including Bethel and Tusten, are also converting their street lamps to LEDs and are at different development stages.

At the November 17 town board meeting, Thompson authorized the town supervisor to move forward in signing paperwork with New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) to purchase the current street lamps they do have.

According to Rieber, once they are purchased, the town will buy the new LED lights from another vendor.

The estimated cost of replacing the street lamps will be around $1.55 million, and financing will be provided by the New York State Power Authority.

Once the lights are installed, the town will need to hire an outside contractor to maintain the fixtures and provide emergency repairs on an on-call basis. Those LED lights already existing in the town will be brought into the maintenance contract, according to Rieber.

LED lights bring features that do not exist with regular high-pressure sodium street lamps. With LED lights, the town will be able to control each lamp's brightness, and according to Rieber, this is “especially useful during emergency situations” and reduces the cost to operate the lights.

The town will have the option to add Wi-Fi nodes on top of the lamp to help with internet service, like in the Rock Hill business district.

After installing the LED lights, the town hopes to save on energy costs as LED lamps consume less energy than their high-pressure sodium counterparts.

While there will be no public comment period for the LED conversion, Rieber said he welcomes residents' ideas on the future LED light conversion.