Ausgrid partnership delivers sustainable lighting to Sydney

Ausgrid crew installing an LED streetlight

Ausgrid and the City of Sydney have partnered in a joint project to upgrade thousands of streetlights to more efficient LED lamps.

The project is part of a wider program in which Ausgrid has offered 33 councils the option to accelerate the replacement of 100,000 older residential streetlights across our network.

Chief operating officer Trevor Armstrong said 9641 streetlights within the City of

Sydney would now be switched to LED lamps.

“Our accelerated replacement of streetlights with LEDs is the first of its kind and Ausgrid is proud to be playing a leading role in this area,” Mr Armstrong said.

“These new LEDs are more energy efficient, easier to maintain and will last up to 20 years.

“It can take up to 95 watts to power older streetlights whereas the new LEDs use just 17 watts.

“We know streetlights are an important part of making our community safer and residents have told us they prefer the lighting quality and colour of LEDs.”

Work to replace the streetlights will be completed in the 2018-19 financial year.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the project would help the city to meet its ambitious carbon reduction targets.

“We have an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70 per cent and to source half of our electricity from renewable sources by 2030,” Cr Moore said.

“We own 6500 streetlights in our area and in 2009 we were the first council in Australia to trial LEDs, which saved ratepayers $800,000 a year in energy costs and reduced our carbon emissions by 2400 tonnes a year.

“This partnership with Ausgrid to upgrade the remaining streetlights will mean that we save 3600MWh of electricity per year and 3500 tonnes of carbon a year – approximately nine per cent of our city’s carbon footprint.

“It is the single largest carbon reduction project that we are working on and I thank Ausgrid for their commitment and partnership.”

Ausgrid maintains 250,000 streetlights on behalf of councils in parts of Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter Valley.

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