Nearly 50 percent of regional Victoria is set to receive safer and more energy efficient street lighting following the launch of the Lighting the Regions project on October 16.
Almost 23,000 mercury vapour style street lights will be replaced by more energy efficient Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs).
The project will reduce energy consumption, save 180,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases and provide regional communities with savings of more than $57 million in energy costs over 20 years.
Lighting the Regions Project Chairperson Councillor Ray Kingston said 16 local governments across north, west and central Victoria have formed to implement what will be the largest street lighting partnership in Australia.
“Lighting the Regions is the largest partnership of its type ever undertaken in Australia, and represents a once in a generation opportunity to engage regional communities and individuals to make positive energy efficiency changes in the home and the workplace.
“This collaborative partnership will yield significant economic and environmental project benefits for the 16 local government Councils involved in the project and will pull together the expertise, resourcing and financial resources required to take energy efficiency action together with their communities.”
The local government partners in the project are the City of Greater Bendigo, Central Goldfields, Hepburn, Pyrenees, Loddon, Swan Hill, Gannawarra, Mount Alexander, Buloke, Ararat, Northern Grampians, Hindmarsh, Horsham, Yarriambiack, West Wimmera and Mildura.
The City of Greater Bendigo will undertake the role of lead council for the partnership group.
Powercor is the Distribution Network Service Provider for the Lighting the Regions project and maintains and operates the street lighting infrastructure on behalf of the local government partners.
The $11.6 million project includes $5 million of funding from the Australian Government and will run until June 2016.
