Smart upgrade to more than 92,000 streetlights in NSW

Ausgrid is set to partner with the Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (SSROC) and up to 33 local councils to deliver what could be the largest and most advanced smart street lighting upgrade in Australia. The partnership deal could see more than 92,000 streetlights upgraded with energy-efficient LEDs and smart controls over the next three years.

Most of the lights to be upgraded are on main roads across metro Sydney, the Central Coast and the Hunter, with 25 councils having already agreed in principle to the deal. The program adds smart controls to the lights on main roads to help detect faults, optimise maintenance, measure energy use and facilitate off-peak dimming in the future. The lights would also be able to accommodate future smart city sensors.

Ausgrid CEO Richard Gross said the upgrade will provide major energy savings which will significantly contribute towards Australia’s net zero target.

“Ausgrid has already upgraded around 130,000 residential streetlights to LEDs and expects to complete a further 20,000 in the next few months. Once the main road program is complete by 2024, almost a quarter of a million streetlights will have been replaced.

“Councils can expect average energy savings of 56% annually and total reductions in greenhouse gas emissions of more than 34,000 tCO2-e per year from this latest Ausgrid proposal.”

SSROC President and Burwood Mayor Cr John Faker said total costs for councils will reduce by around $3 million per year thanks to the significant energy and maintenance savings. “The new lights will deliver better quality lighting, make our roads safer, dramatically cut energy consumption and save our communities money,” Cr Faker said.

SSROC CEO Helen Sloan said the project represented a dramatic shift in the lighting of main roads. “We’ll be moving from lights that were developed in the middle of the last century to ones that are at the leading edge,” she said.

“These new lights provide better lighting with smart controls enabling even lower energy consumption, and ports for future Smart City sensors, to help councils to deliver community services.”

The global lighting industry has recently agreed on a standardised approach, known as Zhaga, towards building lights that accommodate smart city sensors. The kinds of sensors that councils are showing interest in would deliver better traffic and pedestrian counts, monitor the environment for pollutants and detect high noise levels.

Dr Dee Denteneer, Secretary General of the international Zhaga Consortium, has praised the Ausgrid SSROC agreement. “The scale of what is being proposed, across a major global city, is truly a landmark agreement. As many cities around the world are learning, LEDs with smart controls will make the city safer and healthier at lower costs,” Dr Denteneer said.

The 29 councils participating in the SSROC Street Lighting Improvement Program are: Bayside, Burwood, Canada Bay, Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Coast, Cessnock, City of Sydney, Cumberland, Georges River, Hornsby, Hunters Hill, Inner West, Ku-ring-gai, Lake Macquarie, Lane Cove, Mosman, North Sydney, Northern Beaches, Parramatta, Port Stephens, Randwick, Ryde, Singleton, Strathfield, Sutherland, Upper Hunter, Waverley, Willoughby and Woollahra.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Taras Vyshnya