Skip to content

Victoria to convert streetlights to LED

The City of Victoria will be installing 7,000 new LED streetlights throughout the municipality in the coming years.

The City of Victoria will be installing 7,000 new LED streetlights throughout the municipality in the coming years, as part of a new pilot project to save energy.

During a meeting Thursday, council voted to install 3,000 warm white LED fixtures and 4,000 LED streetlight fixtures in all signalized intersections and marked crosswalks.

Currently, the city’s streetlights consume 12 per cent of municipal energy use, eating up roughly half of the $1 million budget for maintenance/labour costs.

The conversion to LED streetlights will improve lighting quality, reduce hazardous risks, and save approximately 50 per cent of the energy burden.

They are also expected to decrease streetlight maintenance and labour since they have a lifecycle of roughly 15 years compared to the four-year lifestyle of regular lights, according to a staff report.

“It’s a wave of change that is common throughout the country,” said Fraser Work, director of engineering and public works with the city, adding a number of other cities including Vancouver, Surrey, Calgary and Medicine Hat have also made the conversion to LED lights. “The benefits are significant.”

So far, city crews have installed LED lights on the Point Ellice Bridge, the Songhees development along Kimta Road and a few other locations around the city.

The conversion is expected to begin in fall 2016, beginning with residential streets and then shifting to arterial and connector streets in spring 2017. The final phase will be the conversion in the downtown core, expected in 2018.