LED Streetlight Conversion

The City of West Allis Department of Public Works Electrical Services Division is responsible for maintaining and operating the City’s entire street lighting system, comprised of 51 low-voltage parallel circuits and 77 high-voltage series circuits. High-voltage series circuits can serve larger areas than their counterpart, however it can be extremely dangerous to perform routine maintenance on systems with such high voltages, which requires specialized training for all City electrical staff. Additionally, high-voltage series systems are much more costly and time-consuming to repair and maintain, and the required infrastructure is rapidly becoming obsolete. With the recent discontinuance of low-pressure sodium (LPS) luminaire manufacturing, the City has approximately 7 years before large numbers of streetlight fixtures begin to go dark.

The City of West Allis plans to budget annually for this work over the next 13 years in an effort for convert all high-voltage series circuits with LPS luminaires in operation over to low voltage circuits with LED luminaires.  Upon conversion of these circuits in 13 years, priority will shift towards the remaining high voltage series circuits with high pressure sodium (HPS) luminaires, which are estimated for completion in an additional 6 years at the current pace (19 years total).

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