LED streetlight upgrade on the road again

Streetlights on Eurobodalla’s main roads will soon be upgraded to energy-efficient LEDs, delivering significant cost savings for ratepayers and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Eurobodalla Council was the first council in the south-east region to upgrade its residential road streetlights to energy-efficient LEDs back in 2017. Higher wattage lamps on the shire’s main roads were not upgraded then as suitable products were not yet available in the region.

Council’s sustainability coordinator Mark Shorter said Essential Energy would begin upgrading the remaining street lights in mid-November.

He said streetlights were a significant expense for Council, costing around $475,000 each year in energy and maintenance.

“Over 1,000 high-energy lights will be replaced with energy-efficient LEDs, which can use less than half the energy,” he said.

“The switch will result in a 368 MWh per year reduction in power use - that’s about the same as taking 100 cars off the road.

“After financing, the project will reduce Council’s operating maintenance and electricity costs by approximately $110,000 each year.

“The savings will allow us to further invest in delivering the actions in Council’s Eurobodalla Emissions Reduction Plan 2017-2021, which sets out Council’s strategy to minimise greenhouse gas emissions.”

Essential Energy streetlight manager Adele Finch said the utility was responsible for the maintenance and billing of more than 160,000 streetlights across more than 85 councils in NSW and parts of southern Queensland.

“The new LED streetlighting for Eurobodalla Shire will not only provide a more reliable, better quality lighting service, but will deliver savings of more than 42 per cent in energy consumption,” she said.

“This type of light also provides future potential for other ‘smart’ applications to be added and will allow Essential Energy to more effectively manage the streetlight network and respond more promptly to potential outages.”