Street lighting project launched

Over the next 15 years Government is set to save over $30 million as it moves towards renewable energy and energy-efficient sources.

This was revealed by Minister of Energy and Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams during a site visit to the Barbados LED Retrofit Street Light Project at Silver Sands Recreational Park this morning.

The initiative falls under Government’s Public Sector Smart Energy Programme (PSSEP) and is set to run for the next 18 months.

The project aims to replace 85 per cent or 27,250 of the island’s streetlights, with LED lights.

However, the Government Electrical Department will replace 3000 of those streetlights located along the highways.

The overall cost of the project is approximately $12 million and it is being financed by the Inter American Development Bank (IDB).

Speaking during the site visit, Abrahams said the project was another example of Government’s commitment to move towards renewable energy.

“This is a herculean task of trying to replace pretty much all of the streetlights in Barbados and is a major commitment by the Government of Barbados.

“As everybody knows we are looking to move to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030 and part of that necessitates us rethinking the way we do things. So we can’t move forward with high consumption, inefficient technology when technology is advancing at such a pace that there are many options for us to bring our costs back down,” Abrahams said.

“Over the 15-year period of this project the savings to the Government will be about $31 million in electricity costs. That by itself is phenomenal…” Abrahams said.

The Minister thanked the partners in the project, Barbados Light and Power and Caribbean LED Lighting.

The project is already said to be ahead of schedule as the streetlights had been delivered a month ago, allowing the BL&P to begin work in advance.

BL&P’s distribution engineer and project manager Paula Palmer said lights in Regency Park and Kingsland, Christ Church; Bridge Cot, St George and Ruby, St Philip, had already been replaced.

Additionally, she said a contractor had been hired to replace those lights which customers had called in to say were not working.