Carmarthenshire County Council is looking at converting its street lights to LED in a bid to reduce energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions.

A report went before the Executive Board to discuss how the street lighting section could deliver efficiency savings of £627,000 over the next three years.

One option is to convert sodium lanterns to LED and then dim the lights at a steady rate throughout the night.

Although it requires capital investment of £2.9 million, savings of £401,000 will be achieved in the first three years alone in energy costs.

And a further £226,000 will be saved in the subsequent reduction in maintenance, vehicle and labour costs including night patrols.

Executive Board Member for Technical Services Cllr Hazel Evans explained that they could apply to Welsh Government’s ‘Invest to Save’ fund for the capital investment needed for the project.

She added: “Some of the lights will need to be replaced and the ones with the higher voltage will be done first in order to maximise savings.”

The board agreed for a business case to be prepared for phases one and two to submit to Welsh Government for Invest to Save funding.