LED street lights to be installed

The first of Dunedin's new LED street lights should begin appearing around the city within weeks, the Dunedin City Council says.

Council transport group manager Richard Saunders told yesterday's DCC infrastructure services and networks committee meeting the first shipment of lights was expected in the city later this month.

From then on, any of the old high-pressure sodium streetlights that failed would be replaced by a new LED light, meaning individual new lights could pop up around the city, he said.

However, the widespread introduction of new LEDs was still not scheduled to begin until November or December, he said.

In the meantime, council staff were working on a map to illustrate the order in which suburbs could expect to see the new lights introduced, he said.

Residents in any given area would be notified when they were about to get the new lights, he said.

A $15million, seven-year contract - 85% of it paid for by the NZ Transport Agency - was awarded to Broadspectrum New Zealand in May, covering the design, installation, management and maintenance of the network.

Last month, it was confirmed Telensa, a United Kingdom company, would provide its smart streetlight management system to manage Dunedin's new LED lights.

That would include providing a central management application, allowing the council to remotely tailor individual lights to suit each location, the company said.

The new 3000-Kelvin LED lights would take up to two years to be introduced across the city, replacing the city's 15,000 ageing high-pressure sodium lights.