Our New Zealand electricity and gas team is helping to light up Dunedin through the design and installation of world-class street lighting as part of a $20 million contract with the Dunedin City Council.

Replacing 14,000 high-pressure sodium streetlights with a full network of LEDs will bring significant benefits, including increased road safety, reduced energy usage and cost, and the ability to tailor lighting levels street-by-street.

The luminaires are all 'night sky rated' which means there is no up spill of lighting, and light fitting design is being adapted to match certain areas - for example, heritage-style fittings around the train station. 

In addition to the replacement of 14,000 luminaires the team will replace close to 400 poles.

Leading the way

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region.

"LED street lighting is certainly the way of the future with many cities around the world starting to transition to LEDs," said Ventia Contract Manager, Steve Walker. 

"Dunedin City Council is to be commended on its foresight and for leading the way in this area,' he said.

Not only are LEDs far more energy efficient than traditional street lighting, but importantly their accurate colour rendering makes it easier to see, which is a major factor in increasing road safety. They also have a much longer, more predictable lifespan than traditional bulbs.

Ventia's seven-year contract with Dunedin City Council covers lighting design and installation across the city and state highways, operation and infrastructure upgrades including LED replacements, Central Management System (CMS) implementation and renewals.

^{Ventia will replace 14,000 high-pressure sodium streetlights across Dunedin with a full network of LEDs}

"The CMS - PLANet - allows remote control, testing and analysis of the health of each individual luminaire," Steve said. 

Twenty base stations have been installed around the Dunedin area that 'telecells' on each individual light communicate with, allowing us to manage each individual light.

"We have also installed adaptive lighting for certain areas such as the sports stadium, so that when an event is on we can set the nearby street lights to maximum brightness for public safety, then at a certain time the lights return to their default settings," he said.

Having recently completed the roll out of the new luminaires, Ventia is now transitioning into a five-year maintenance phase.

"We're proud to be collaborating with Dunedin City Council on this important contract which is further enhancing this great city and part of its process for becoming a 'SMART' city," Steve said.