BULBS in the street lights of Inverell Shire Council will be changed to LED technology about September-October, as part of an upgrade under Regional Development Australia’s Northern Lights Project.
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Inverell shire general manager Paul Henry said the savings to council will be more than $40,000.
“It’s part of the ongoing program. We’ve got to look at how we can reduce our energy costs,” Mr Henry said.
“There will be an initial capital cost associated with the changeover of the lights, but the payback period will be 3.2 years from the savings in electricity, and then we’ll get the ongoing benefit.”
Developed and administered by Regional Development Australia Northen Inland (RDANI), the Northern Lights project received $576,000 of funding from the Australian Government to assist councils with the capital cost of the new lights.
The project is the first broad scale rollout of LED technology in regional NSW, and is also a trial by Essential Energy of two models of LED streetlights to compare reliability and performance.
RDANI Chair Russell Stewart said the result was that towns in our region would soon be on par with the likes of Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles and London in adopting the latest lighting developments.
Inverell council has also reduced energy consumption by installing solar on the roof of the Inverell Public Library and the Inverell Council Chambers, and Mr Henry said those systems are performing better than the initial consultant’s reports indicated they would.
