City lighting project on track to reach its phase one milestone

GEELONG’S new and improved lighting upgrade has surpassed 50 per cent of its goal in changing approximately 13,000 residential streetlights over to LED.

The residential lighting conversion, considered one of the largest upgrades of its kind in Victoria, is part of an overall project that will see energy-efficient LED luminaires used in all of the municipality’s 25,000-plus streetlights.

According to deputy mayor Trent Sullivan, the major upgrade would result in carbon emission reductions, lead to significant financial savings, and improve the public streetscape.

“The full transformation of our street lighting program will have huge impacts,” Cr Sullivan said.

“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.”

Within the LED luminaires are new smart PE cells, which provide higher quality and better directed lighting, as well as greater spread across the city’s streets.

The rollout of the lighting project’s first phase began in March 2021 and will be completed later this month.

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.

About 98 per cent of the material of the old lights – glass, mercury and aluminium – will be recycled.