Council to upgrade streetlights

28 February 2022

Hawkesbury City Council is continuing to upgrade its street lights with around 2,000 fittings to be replaced with brighter, more cost effective LEDs by July 2022.

Council has signed a new agreement with Endeavour Energy to commence the LED program to replace the remaining one third of street lights that are not LEDs. The main road lights that will be replaced are distributed widely across the Hawkesbury on main roads such as Grose Vale Road, North Richmond, all of Bells Line of Road, and Macquarie Street, Windsor.

Two thirds of all lights were replaced under previous programs and all residential lights have been replaced.

The current fittings that will be replaced are a range of older types including metal halide, sodium and mercury vapour. In comparison to these older fittings, the LED fittings will use 1/5^th of the power and also require far less maintenance, the Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Patrick Conolly explained.

“The energy and maintenance improvements from this upgrade will save around $100,000 a year in street lighting costs,” Mayor Conolly said.

“Council currently purchases renewable energy for 90% of all power used including 100% of power for streetlights.”

The NSW Government will provide Council a rebate for installing these lights and Endeavour Energy is packaging the replacement fittings under a ‘no upfront charge levy’ enabling Council to undertake these works with no capital outlay.

Down the track, the replacement and maintenance costs will be reduced because the LED lights last up to 20 years, compared to the existing lights, in which lamp replacement occurs every two years.

“Street lights are an important part of making our community safer. The light from LEDs is much clearer and more natural than many older style fittings, such as sodium lamps.

“Using streetlights that cost less to run is a benefit to our ratepayers and residents because it means we can spend those savings in other ways,” he said.

“This is a wise investment that will provide good returns, save money and benefit the environment.

“With two thirds of all street light fittings having already been replaced by LEDs, that is, the small 15 watt lights, all the rest of the lights on main roads, and big lights around shopping centres, will now be replaced.”

The Mayor added that the initiative would make the Hawkesbury one of the first major semi-rural municipalities in Australia to have all of its streets and roads lit by LEDs.

The program will commence soon and is expected to be completed by 1 July. This project will assist Council in reaching its Net Zero Emissions by 2030.