“The street lighting pilot project was very successful in a number of different ways; it has reduced our maintenance costs, energy consumption and carbon missions. It is also significantly contributing towards our 33% energy efficiency targets. The feedback from the public and elected members is very encouraging.”

Tim Butler, Director of Services, Kilkenny County Council

Background

In April 2014 Kilkenny County Council became city partner and 3CEA acted as facilitator in the Intelligent Energy Europe Streetlight EPC project. The aim of the project was to create the demand and supply for Energy Performance Contracts (EPC) for street lighting in Ireland and across Europe. As part of this real life EPC projects were identified and carried. Kilkenny County Council and identified a large project consisting mainly of the declassified road network in Kilkenny and other areas of the city and county with inefficient lighting. There are in excess of 10,000 streetlights owned and operated by Kilkenny County Council. The pilot project identified the retrofit of 1,300 or 13% of the street lighting stock of Kilkenny County Council.

Project Description

After the M8 and M9 motorways were opened the previous N routes in Kilkenny were declassified to R routes or regional routes. The lighting on these declassified regional routes in Kilkenny consisted of a mixture of high intensity discharge SON and SOX lighting, that formed part of the base project. The project also identified energy saving in an industrial estate and four housing estates. An application for funding was submitted to SEAI through the Kilkenny County Council Better Energy Communities 2017 grant application. The project was procured in May and awarded in July 2017. The project commenced in July 2017 with the ordering of lanterns (6 – 8 weeks). The project was completed in October 2017. The entire project consisted of 1,300 lamps or 13% of the council’s lighting stock, all lamps were changed to energy efficient LED. Each lantern was designed individually, and the lighting scheme will also benefit from the new dimming profiles.

Benefits

Energy Benefits: Since the energy consumption for water services was transferred to Irish Water, the energy consumption for public lighting is now over 50% of Kilkenny County Council’s energy spend. The energy efficient lighting project will contribute to Kilkenny County Council’s energy efficiency target of 33% by 2020.

Social Benefits: The benefits of the new lighting can be seen in towns and villages across Kilkenny. The benefits of an LED lighting system are; provides a safer environment, reduces number and severity of night time accidents, provides a safer environment and it helps to reduce street crime and the fear of crime.

Residential Benefits: The residential estates have benefited from peace of mind and safety at night, a more energy efficient public light coupled with the benefit of better security and better light output.

“The street light pilot lighting project will contribute to Kilkenny County Council reaching their 33% energy targets by 2020, this project not only reduces energy and CO2 emissions but also promotes sustainable travel and safety. We were delighted to work on this project in conjunction with Kilkenny County Council”

Paddy Phelan, Manager 3CEA