The biggest LED street light replacement project in NSW, Light Years Ahead, has been successfully completed with 13,951 LED street lights installed by Endeavour Energy crews across Western Sydney.
More than 550 mercury vapour lights in residential streets of the Hawkesbury – Bligh Park, Clarendon, Cornwallis,
Freemans Reach, Oakville, Pitt Town, South Windsor, Wilberforce, Windsor, Windsor Downs and Vineyard – have been replaced with LED street lights. This is over 15% of the total lights in Hawkesbury Local Government Area.
Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) coordinated the project, and WSROC is now investigating further options for additional lights in future.
Hawkesbury City Council has collaborated with eight other councils since the project began in late 2014; Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Fairfield, Hills Shire, Holroyd, Liverpool, Parramatta and Penrith as part of the $7.8 million dollar project, which received funding from the Australian Government.
The Mayor of Hawkesbury, Councillor Kim Ford said the project will save Council more than $740,000 and more than 3,260 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the next 20 years.
“The emissions savings are equivalent to lighting more than 4,000 Australian homes, heating and cooling more than 1,600 homes, or taking more than 750 cars off the road, every year,” Mayor Ford said.
“Our residents clearly support Council’s energy-saving initiatives, and I hope this project is encouraging residents to save more energy at home.
“Light Years Ahead demonstrates how councils can work together with the Australian Government on projects that deliver broader benefits to the community.”
According to WSROC President, Councillor Tony Hadchiti, Light Years Ahead is a great precedent for future LED lighting projects and more generally, for other council-initiated infrastructure upgrades in Western Sydney.
Light Years Ahead is projected to save the participating councils, as a group, $20 million and 74,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over 20 years. The $20 million savings are significant as street lighting makes up around
55% of councils’ energy costs. The combined emission savings are equivalent to taking 37,000 cars off the road every year over 20 years.
The major components of the old mercury vapour street lights – the plastic street light visors and ‘bodies’ have been being recycled with over 5,040kg diverted from landfill. The Light Years Ahead project received funding of
$5.3 million from the Australian Government and $2.6 million in funding from the nine participating councils. Visit
www.lightyearsahead.com.au for more details.
