£6M LED street lighting pilot scheme announced

Northern Ireland’s Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy has announced a major LED street lighting pilot scheme in Banbridge and Craigavon.

Mr Kennedy said the scheme represents a way of saving costs without hitting public services. He comented: “In these financially challenging times, it is important that every effort is made to make savings and reduce costs without impacting on the public.

“Street lighting energy and maintenance costs are very significant, costing in excess of £13million every year for my Department. Over the last number of years, small pockets of LED street lighting have been introduced across Northern Ireland.

“Whilst relatively large sums of capital investment are required initially, immediate returns on running costs are achieved with a pay back on the investment expected after eight years.

“Whilst my resource budget has been reduced, I have decided that we must not lose this opportunity to start introducing LED lights on a wider scale to achieve the future cost savings they will bring.

“The LED street light pilot project across Banbridge and Craigavon areas aims to replace around 20,000 existing lights. This is a very significant investment and, as my budget permits, I will continue to introduce similar schemes across Northern Ireland.”

An LED street light uses light emitting diodes as its light source and provides greater energy efficiency compared to conventional street lighting such as high and low pressure sodium lamps. It also has a much longer lifespan than conventional lighting, giving an opportunity to reduce maintenance costs.

The investment will see 20,000 of the 280,000 street lights in Northern Ireland replaced and is scheduled to begin today in Banbridge.

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