Auckland Transport has begun New Zealand’s most ambitious LED replacement program.

It is replacing 44,000 high pressure sodium (golden yellow light) street lights with energy efficient LED luminaires. Auckland Transport owns more than 100,000 street lights, approximately one third of the country’s total lighting stock.

Auckland Transport chairman Lester Levy says the first phase of the program is being rolled out over five years. “It means nearly half of the regions street lights will change from golden yellow light to white light.”

Streetlights in one of New Zealand's largest cities Auckland will be replaced with LEDs. Auckland Transport chairman Dr Lester Levy (left) and team leader David Dick (right) overseeing LED streetlight installations. (Auckland Transport/LEDinside)

Last year, the Auckland Transport Board approved the plan, the rest of the conversion to LEDs will potentially follow in four to five years. Levy says “This project is expected to see net savings of NZ $32 million (US $21.18 million) over the 20 year design life of the LED luminaires.”

In March, Transport Minister Simon Bridges – who is also the Minister of Energy and Resources – announced a policy change that would allow local authorities looking at upgrading road lighting to LED to access funding faster.

Bridges says this is an excellent result. “The accelerated renewal LED conversion program ensures capital is available to all councils that wish to undertake this work. I applaud Auckland Transport for its foresight in taking advantage of this initiative and leading the charge on what will be a nationwide roll-out.

LED technology – which is cheaper over time, safer and more efficient – is a smart choice for communities and for New Zealand.”

Auckland Transport has just awarded for four new Street Light Maintenance and Renewals contracts for four years beginning this month. This includes the replacement LED program which began in May 2015.

The region is divided into four contract areas: Electrix Ltd won the north and west contracts, Downer ITS won the central and south contracts. Auckland Transport is in the process of awarding a contract to Northpower for Waiheke Island.  Northpower are the Vector contractor on the island and have a depot and staff there.

Phase one of the contracts focuses mainly on residential roads which comprise approximately 40% of the regions street lighting network.

AT has had a policy since 2012 that all new lights on pedestrian dominated roads will be LED luminaires. Changing the old lights to LEDs will reduce the energy consumption by more than 60%  Auckland Transport already has approximately 2,000 energy efficient LED luminaires in service. The roll-out will immediately see 1,000 lights replaced in the Mount Albert/Mount Roskill area.

At the same time the new luminaires are changed a Tele-management System (TMS) is being installed to manage and monitor the network.  Through better management of light levels a further 15 - 20% of energy savings can be achieved. The TMS will provide enhanced customer service as any faults on the network will be reported daily.

AT already has LED luminaires around Eden Park which are controlled by a TMS system. This was established under an earlier project and has worked well by increasing light levels before and after events.

International experience has shown that white light is also a factor in crime prevention; delivers greater comfort and security and improves visibility and reaction times for drivers and pedestrians, resulting in fewer vehicle crashes and injuries.

This hugely favors LED as a light source and already this year, according to new research, the market share of LED for street lighting worldwide exceeds 50%.