By the end of March 2022 all street lighting within the Mildura local government area will have been converted to LED technology, cutting Council's energy and maintenance costs by a further $2.5 million over the next 20 years as part of the Lighting the Regions Stage 2 project.
Lighting the Regions is a partnership between 11 Victorian Councils, the Central Victorian Greenhouse Alliance, the Victorian Government and Ironbark Sustainability.
The regional project involves replacing over 11,000 street lights to more energy-efficient LEDs.
Approximately 1,819 street lights will be replaced across the Mildura region by Powercor between February and March 2022, reducing Council's annual electricity use by approximately 566 megawatt hours.
The project will see Council achieving its target of a 15% reduction in street lighting electricity consumption by 2022.
Councillor for Environment and Sustainability Jodi Reynolds said Mildura's inclusion in Lighting the Regions was yet another way the Mildura region was leading the way in responding to the climate emergency whilst driving down energy costs.
"By cutting $2.5 million from our energy and maintenance costs over 20 years it will mean we can redirect this money into other areas of our community," Cr Reynolds said.
"With Council signing on to the largest ever Power Purchase Agreement by local government in Australia, all of our street lighting has been powered by 100% renewable energy from 1 July this year."
In addition to the cost savings and environmental benefits the new LED street lights will be more reliable and provide more consistent lighting and better visibility than the technologies they are replacing.
Council is contributing $450,000 from its 2021-22 capital works program to replace the street lights, which will be recovered in energy and maintenance cost savings within nine years.
The Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications has contributed $1.63 million from its Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program (Phase 2) towards the Mildura project.
