Harnessing Solar Power: Los Angeles launches new Street Lights Initiative

The City of Los Angeles has launched a new Street Lights Initiative to repair and replace upwards of 60,000 streetlights across the next two years. The program will utilize solar light technology with an intent of addressing the backlog of street light repairs and combat copper wire theft.

“These are the basics that shape how we feel about our city, and whether our city is safe,” Mayor Karen Bass said. “The streetlight backlog that piled up before I took office is unacceptable – we’re addressing it and making it safer for people to walk their dogs, come home from work and park their cars at night. Instead of continuing to patch together antiquated streetlight technology, we’re using solar to make our lights more reliable, resistant to theft and cleaner to operate.”

According to a news release, the city of Los Angeles currently operates more than 220,000 streetlights citywide. It is estimated that 60,000 are eligible to be converted to solar.

Bass launched the new initiative by signing Executive Directive 18, an agreement between the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Bureau of Street Lighting for the installation of up to 60,000 solar streetlights across the city over the next two years. The initiative will also address the over 32,000 streetlight service requests by modernizing or repairing them.

The city will invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the assessment and installation of the streetlights, through a phased approach.

The process has already begun. Hundreds of solar streetlights have been installed in neighborhoods including Watts, Historic Filipinotown, Granada Hills and Van Nuys.

Bass was joined by Councilmember Monica Rodriguez for the signing.

“Angelenos deserve safe streets that are reliably lit,” Rodriguez said. “This initiative takes meaningful action to fix thousands of our City’s broken lights and restore visibility where it’s been missing for far too long, while moving us toward more secure, solar-powered streetlights that are less vulnerable to theft. We will continue working with our City partners to strengthen our infrastructure and deliver safer, more reliable lighting across our communities.”

The program aims to reduce LA’s energy consumption while helping accelerate the City’s transition to 100% clean energy by 2035.

The city’s funding for streetlight infrastructure has remained the same since 1996.

In the last 10 years, the mayor’s office said, there has been a 1,200% increase in copper wire theft across Los Angeles, especially through theft from the city’s streetlights.

Repairs caused by copper wire theft can cost four times more than standard maintenance.

The solar streetlights are designed to reduce theft. They do not use copper wire and are less vulnerable to theft, as well as more cost-effective over time.

Furthermore, they are equipped with integrated battery storage, providing light on city streets during grid disruptions.

This week, the LA City Council adopted a motion on solar streetlights.

According to her office, Bass plans to work closely with the City Council, including Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, Chair of the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee and Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, Chair of the Public Works Committee, to address the citywide issue of copper wire theft and take steps to transition thousands of streetlights to solar.