Park Pathway Lighting across Wodonga

City of Wodonga chooses Leadsun smart solar lights to illuminate their parks

Client

City of Wodonga

Project Overview

Each year has seen more parks and pathways illuminated by Leadsun, with the projects attracting significant media attention and support across the community as well as from local and state government.

Funded by the crime prevention community infrastructure funds, the lights mean safer travel for the community to home, work and major education facilities including Wodonga TAFE, Victory Primary School and La Trobe University, encouraging more people to be active on the city’s pathways at night and early in the morning.

Over a multi-year partnership, City of Wodonga has installed over 300 off-grid light

Wodonga City Council had invited Leadsun to supply a lighting design solution for their initial crime prevention community infrastructure grant application. After a successful application and first project, the council has continued to apply for the grant each year, with Leadsun continuing to supply the lighting solution.

The vast parks and footpath network plus tree cover posed a challenge

Aside from the issues originally prompting the project – low safety perceptions and concerns around potential anti-social behaviour preventing parks from being fully utilised at night – there was also the challenge of how best to space lights to cover the vastness of the city’s interconnected parks and pathways. Also, some areas were heavily treelined and not receiving sufficient sunlight, thus requiring innovative light engineering solutions.

Innovative design and optimum spacing creates perfect solution

With each new park project, Leadsun’s engineering team have designed innovative solar-powered lighting solutions.

This has included the use of master–slave lighting systems to solve tree-coverage issues across the many parks. Under this arrangement, locations with good solar exposure and fewer trees have a master system installed. Minimal safe, low dc-voltage underground cabling is then employed to power the lights in the shadier areas.

Council and Leadsun overcame distance challenges by trialling different configurations to find the optimum spacing, allowing the lights to be distributed across wide areas while still maintaining safe illumination levels.

The now more than 300 lights across the city include PIR motion sensors that allow them to brighten as people approach and dim again once they’ve passed, providing environmental benefits as well as a greater battery lifespan. Also, the lowerable EZY pole design allows quick and safe installation and maintenance without the need for heavy equipment.

Council has now installed lights along many shared pathways, including in Felix Grundy Park, Dick Street, Parkers Road and Moorefield Park Drive to the underpass at Wodonga TAFE, as well as the link from Forrest Mars Ave to Belvoir Park.

Our efficient, reliable and adaptable modular lighting solutions have allowed Wodonga to continue upgrading its pathway lights quickly, easily and affordably, bringing exceptional results and positive feedback across the community.

Leadsun Products Used

Number of lights – 300
Solar module series – AE2, AE3, AE6
Solar size – 40W, 60W, 80W & 130W
LED output programming – Varied, mostly 100% illumination for 5hrs then DIM for 3hrs then off until dawn.
Pole footing type – EZYFoot
Pole type – Lowerable
Additional solutions – Remote-source light configuration

Acknowledgment of Country

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which this project was undertaken, the Wiradjuri, Waveroo and Dhudhuroa People. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture and we pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

“These lights will enable more people to get out and use our paths in the night time. I know, myself as a cyclist, now in winter it’s getting pretty cold and dark that those extra lights along the pathway allow me ride to work and feel more comfortable”