The Federal Government’s Department of Environment and Energy (on behalf of the COAG Energy Council’s Equipment Energy Efficiency (E3) Program) has recently concluded a round-Australia capital city street lighting workshop program. The objectives of the workshops was to advance the recommendations of IPWEA's SLSC Roadmap, published in late 2016.
Concluding in Sydney, the workshops have engaged DNSPs (electricity distribution providers), state government agencies, road authorities and leading councils to have frank and meaningful discussions about the transition to energy efficient street lighting in Australia. The workshops were well attended and demonstrated the willingness of all parties to work together to use LED and smart control technology to deliver benefits for the community.
IPWEA helped facilitate every state workshop as an integral part of the Government’s engagement to advance its policy objectives of:
- Maintaining reliable and affordable energy while also lowering emissions
- Fostering safer roads
- Improving maintenance and asset management to reduce cost of ownership
- Ensuring environmental sustainability
- Supporting the Smart Cities Plan
- Promulgating regulation that supports efficient delivery of services
The consultation workshops focused on six policy issues identified by stakeholders in the IPWEA SLSC Roadmap that were seen to be constraining progress. The objective was to obtain input on the changes needed to assist in the transition. The six core SLSC Roadmap issues covered at the workshops included:
- Alignment of incentives (between DNSPs and councils/main road agencies)
- Access and contestability (service delivery models for street lighting attached to DNSP poles)
- Confidence in pricing (improving transparency of cost inputs and charges)
- Service standards (clear responsibilities of parties, regulation/SLAs, reporting and accountability)
- Regulatory asset base (RAB) value (remaining value of legacy assets being replaced and finance options)
- Metering (proposal for a new Type 8 metering table specifically for LED, smart control and smart city device measuring)
The COAG Energy Council E3 Program has formed a street lighting working group that will consider outcomes from the workshops and make recommendations to the COAG Energy Council 2018 in terms of any regulatory change needed to facilitate the transition. Prior to any recommendations being made, further consultation will occur with peak bodies Energy Networks Australia (ENA), the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and Lighting Council Australia (LCA).
Stakeholders involved in the workshops will be kept informed of outcomes with notification expected in early 2018.
The Federal Government is to be commended on the rapid rollout of these national workshops. Having attended half of them, I have been encouraged at the amount of goodwill and willingness to embrace change management and work collaboratively toward the objectives of accelerated rollout of LED and smart control technology.
Congratulations goes to Victoria for being the lead state in advancing LED street lighting in Australia and to Tasmania as the standout for being the most positive about facilitating the accelerated deployment of LEDs.
This is another important plank in the IPWEA SLSC Programme, working in harmony with ALGA, LCA, ENA, and the industry’s thought leaders under the guidance of the Federal Government. An enhancement to the already well regarded SLSC website (
www.slsc.org,au/
www.slsc.org.nz) will occur early next year which will showcase industry commentary on the 10 ‘hot topic’ SLSC issues.
Robert Fuller CEO, IPWEA