Cavan County Council upgrades street lighting

The Project

In 2020, Cavan County Council upgraded a total of 1,100 lights bringing the total number of lights upgraded to 4,390 out of a total of 6,860. (64% approx. upgraded).

The work included the conversion of all streetlight units to LED technology. The new LED lights have a central management system with an individual photocell to trigger light on in darkness.  

The primary aim of the project was to enable the Local Authority to reach its statutory energy efficiency target to be 33% more energy efficient by 2020 and working towards the 2030 target of 50%.  

The LED upgrade project will also assist the council to reduce its running costs significantly over the next 25 years through energy and maintenance savings.  It will contribute positively to their carbon reduction goals. 

There are many other benefits to switching to LEDs, including:

• Increased efficiency - use much less electricity than other lamps or bulbs for similar output, reducing energy costs
• Longer lifespan compared to traditional lights (have a lifetime of 100,000hrs or 20yrs) 
• Produce very little heat
• Produce much fewer carbon emissions through energy generation
• Contain no mercury
• Can operate effectively in both cold and hot environments 
• Allows varying lighting levels for different types of situations from housing estates to regional/local/national routes 
• Are instantaneous and function at full output when switched on. No warm-up times as with most street lighting. 
• Can be dimmed at off peak times
• Produce a white light to enable the human eye to see natural colours at night
• Much more directional than other lights, reducing 'sky glow' and glare resulting in less light pollution 
• Provide improved uniformity of light resulting in improved visibility, less night-time road accidents, less street crime and safer environment 
• Variations in colour temperatures are available for specific applications. 

Results

Cavan County Council has so far completed LED lighting upgrades to over 60% of its 6,860-units public lighting inventory, with an average energy saving of 40-50% per lantern. 

The upgrades carried out in 2020 resulted in approx. 21,000 kwh saved compared to the previous year equating to approximately €40,000 savings. It is estimated that approximately €40,000 will be saved annually because of this work.