GWYNEDD Council plans to spend £1.4million replacing light bulbs across the county.

In a bid to ‘go green’ and save nearly £200,000 every year, the county council is looking to convert 7,778 streetlights to LED technology at a cost of £1,398,795 between now and March 2022.

The council is already well on its way to replacing 10,279 of its 18,057 streetlights with LED technology and is set to complete this work by September 2018.

The council now wishes to change the reminder of the lights, hopefully using a Welsh Government ‘Green Growth’ grant.

However, the Welsh Government Green Growth Fund investment of just under £1.4m will need to be repaid, interest free, over a period of seven and a half years.

The decision will be made at Gwynedd Council Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 10 April.

According to the council, the 10,279 lights which will all be converted by September will ensure a “reduction in carbon emissions of 414 tonnes CO2, reduce light pollution and achieve £260k per annum savings in energy costs”.

Gwyn Morris Jones, head of highways and municipal in the cabinet, is now keen to convert the remaining lights.

His report states: “We are now eager to change the remainder of the street lights to LED technology (7,778 number in total).

“These are the more powerful lights that use significantly more energy than the lights being changed in the current scheme.

“These are the lights used on our main highways, in town centres and at busy road junctions.

“LED is now readily available and at more affordable prices to enable these larger lighting units to be converted to the technology.

“On completing the scheme, a further carbon emission reduction of 572 tonnes CO2 is expected together with a reduction in light pollution.

“It will also achieve a £185k per annum saving in energy costs for the council.”

If the grant application is accepted, work on converting the remain street lights will start in April 2019 and continue for three years.