One of the largest upgrade programs of its kind in Victoria has reached a key milestone, with about 13,000 existing residential street lights in Greater Geelong changed over to LED.
The residential lighting conversion is part of an overall project that will see energy-efficient LED luminaries used in all of the municipality’s 25,000-plus street lights.
Deputy Mayor Trent Sullivan said the major upgrade would slash carbon emissions, lead to significant financial savings, and improve the public streetscape.
“The full transformation of our street lighting program will have huge impacts.It will drastically reduce the energy required to light out streets by about 63 per cent, which will save more than 8660 tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
“The flow-on cost savings are expected to be about $2 million annually, allowing us to invest in other important community projects.”
The LED luminaires, including new smart PE cells, are providing higher quality and better directed lighting, with a greater spread across and along the street.
The rollout of the first phase of the clever and creative project began in March 2021 and will be completed in February 2022.
Installation of 5,707 LED streetlights and associated smart controls on main roads – dubbed phase two of the project – is expected to begin in April 2022.
At its meeting on Tuesday, Council awarded the phase two installation contract to infrastructure owner Powercor.
Powercor connects and manages streetlights for the Victorian Department of Transport and Victorian councils, including Greater Geelong.
Cr Belinda Moloney, Chair of the Climate Change Action portfolio, said the inclusion of smart control technology enabled remote adjustment of the lighting output and further Smart City infrastructure to be added in time.
“The ability to apply higher quality lighting in a targeted way will make our roads and public spaces safer.This project will have a variety of long-lasting benefits for both the community and our environment – it’s a win-win.”
About 98 per cent of the material of the old lights – glass, mercury and aluminium – will be recycled.
