Hawkesbury City Council switches on the (LED) lights


Hawkesbury City Council has joined forces with eight other Western Sydney councils to reduce energy costs and consumption by replacing old and inefficient street lights as part of the largest street lighting replacement project ever conducted in NSW.

The Light Years Ahead project is coordinated by the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC) which has brought together nine of their member councils to participate.

Approximately 13,000 street lights will be replaced with LED lighting in the nine local government areas of Hawkesbury, Parramatta, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Fairfield, The Hills, Holroyd, Liverpool and Penrith.

Inefficient, old mercury vapour lights will be removed and new energy efficient LED lights installed. LEDs are cheaper and more sustainable to run and its estimated councils will save $21 million over 20 years at current electricity prices.

The $7.8 million dollar project, which received funding from the Australian Government, began in late 2014. Installation in Hawkesbury City begins in August 2015 and is expected to be completed by March 2016, with distribution network service provider Endeavour Energy installing the lights.

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.

“As part of the project, Council will replace more than 550 lights – over 15% per cent of the total lights in Hawkesbury – in residential streets across the suburbs of Bligh Park, Clarendon, Freemans Reach, Oakville, Pitt Town, South Windsor, Wilberforce, Windsor, Windsor Downs and Vineyard,” Councillor Ford said.

“The emissions savings are equivalent to lighting more than 4,000 Australian homes, heating and cooling more than 1,600 homes, and taking more than 750 cars off the road each year.

“I hope this project will also encourage residents to review their own energy practices and consumption.”

WSROC President, Cr Tony Hadchiti said the Light Years Ahead project will bring many benefits to councils and residents.

“Public lighting costs millions of dollars each year, with street lighting accounting for 55 per cent of our councils’ energy costs,” he said.

“Anything councils can do to reduce costs allows funding to be redirected towards other projects, infrastructure and wider services.

“This is the biggest street lighting replacement project NSW has ever seen. We have 126,955 street lights in our nine councils. This project replaces more than 10 per cent of those lights. We hope this project is the start of future upgrades, so we can continue the great work we’ve started.”

Hawkesbury City Council launched Light Years Ahead as part of Local Government Week, which runs until 9 August. The event was attended by Louise Markus, Federal Member for Macquarie, Councillor Jill Reardon and around 60 Hawkesbury residents.

"I am delighted that Hawkesbury City Council has been included in this project and that the Australian Government was able to contribute $5 million towards the nine participating councils across greater western Sydney," noted Ms Markus.

"This project represents a valuable, innovative and measured approach to a more sustainable energy future for greater western Sydney."

For more information visit Hawkesbury City Council