ACT to upgrade 80,000 streetlights

The ACT Government has signed a contract with Electrix to upgrade 80,000 streetlights.

“This will be the start of a seven-year partnership that will focus on three key outcomes: keeping the lights on, getting energy efficient and contributing to Canberra being a smart city,” said Minister for Transport and City Services Meegan Fitzharris.

“It is the first energy performance contract for streetlight services in Australia and is a great market-based solution for upgrading and maintaining our streetlights.

“This management contract will ensure broken lamps are replaced within two days instead of the current 10 days, and it will vastly improve the energy efficiency of the network.

“A significant proportion of the ACT’s streetlights will be upgraded as part of this new contract, delivering new LED lamps to streetlights in areas that currently have the oldest and most inefficient incandescent lights.

“A new digital control maintenance management system will also be delivered as part of the upgrade to offer real-time monitoring of the network to automatically detect faults such as lamp failures or cable problems.”

Electrix will work with its parent company, Vinci Energies, which participates in the construction of smart cities around the world with a key focus on design and installation of energy-efficient smart lighting technologies and related urban infrastructure for smart cities.

Fitzharris said as part of the new contract Electrix will review the safety of streetlights. “We want to ensure our streetlights are safe and working properly, but it’s important for the public to be aware and remember that electrical assets should be treated with care,” she said.

“The community should avoid coming into unnecessary contact with accessible Territory-owned electrical assets, including streetlights, or Evoenergy-owned electrical assets such as power poles, substations and mini pillars as a precaution.”

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Giorgio Pulcini