Detroit's new LED streetlights going dark, system-wide failure possible

Detroit in February

The LED streetlights, installed with great fanfare just a few years ago, were touted as being more energy efficient.

But what's the point if they don't work?

From the Detroit News:

The city's lighting authority fears tens of thousands of streetlights are in jeopardy of failing just a few years after being installed, threatening to put some of Detroit's neighborhoods back into the dark.

The authority behind the state-of-the-art overhaul of Detroit's streetlight system filed a federal lawsuit Monday against the manufacturer of nearly a third of the city's 65,000 streetlights, saying a fix is expected to cost millions.

The Public Lighting Authority in its complaint against Leotek Electronics USA notes that upward of 20,000 LED lights are "prematurely dimming and burning out" and putting the city's revitalization progress "in jeopardy."

"Indeed, the PLA expects a system-wide failure of Leotek's luminaries in the short-term," the lawsuit reads.