The project by City of Johannesburg (CoJ) utility City Power to retrofit all of Johannesburg’s streetlights with light-emitting diode (LED) technology is gathering pace, providing energy saving and environment-friendly light, CoJ Environment and Infrastructure Services MMC Michael Sun says.
“I’m delighted that this pilot project is beginning to improve the city of gold’s energy position and positively impact the lives of our residents,” he comments.
At the end of July, more than 2 000 LED streetlights have been fitted in areas across the city. The LED units conserve significant power as well as providing a pure white light that shines farther and assists security initiatives.
The LED units that City Power is deploying will, on average, save five times more energy than the old streetlight technology being replaced, thereby reducing pressure on the city's strained network, and conserving energy that will help to prevent outages.
The units also have built-in meters that will measure consumption in direct Eskom-supplied areas that will prevent a reliance on estimations when billing is processed, Sun adds.
“With a 10- to 15-year lifespan, these LED units will save City Power significant maintenance hours that can be redirected to upgrading the network and dealing with outages and cable theft,” he highlights.