LED light upgrades to rollout in Bathurst

MEDIA RELEASE 28 November 2019

Work to upgrade more than 5600 of the city’s street lights to energy efficient technology will begin this week as part of a major energy efficiency project that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help save on the cost of electricity.

Bathurst Regional Council is part of the Southern Lights NSW project which will see over 75,000 LED street lights deployed in 41 Local Government Areas across southern NSW from Bega to Broken Hill.

The switch to LED technology in Bathurst will see a 1900 MWh reduction per year in power use for street lighting, delivering savings of greater than $550,000 each year in maintenance and electricity costs.

Mayor Bobby Bourke said Council was committed to becoming more sustainable and the LED upgrade is just one initiative in Council’s strategies to achieve energy and operational efficiencies.

“Streetlighting is a significant expense for Council, costing around $1.2 million in 2018/19 FY, and with around 6500 streetlights across Council’s footprint, the upgrade will go a long way to reducing costs and providing significant long-term savings,” said Mayor Bourke.

“LEDs are far more energy efficient, require less maintenance and have a significantly longer life.”

“Council is investing $2.17 million to complete the bulk upgrade, with the costs expected to be recouped within four years.”

Essential Energy streetlight manager Waide Elliott said the organisation continues to work closely with Councils across its distribution area and is committed to providing information and services that are appropriate to Councils’ needs and those of the communities they serve.

“Essential Energy is responsible for the maintenance and billing of more than 160,000 streetlights serving more than 86 councils across New South Wales and parts of Southern Queensland,” Mr Elliott said.

“Public lighting plays an important role in providing safe, secure and attractive public areas for both pedestrians and motorists. It also represents between 25 and 70 per cent of any individual local government’s corporate energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

“The new LED streetlighting in Bathurst will not only provide a more reliable, better quality lighting service, but will deliver savings of more than 60% per cent in energy consumption.

“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,” Mr Elliott said.

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