Energy management to help councils

Responding to requests from users, Halytech has improved its Illuminator sports-field lighting management system to monitor energy use and, where appropriate, enable councils to charge for it.

With the cost of electricity continuing to climb, local government authorities are looking for ways to monitor their energy consumption and, where appropriate, adopt a user-pays approach to the use of their facilities. At up to 2 kW per lamp in a typical floodlight, the cost of running the lights on a typical sports field can be expensive; about $7 per hour. With 10 sports fields running for four hours a night, five nights a week, the cost can be about $1400 a week. Many councils have many more than 10 fields.

Illuminator, which enables users to control sports-field lighting using their mobile phone, ensures that floodlights are only used when required which, in itself, helps to minimise energy use. It can now read an electricity meter at the start and finish times of a session and send the meter readings to council, further assisting councils in their efforts to reduce energy use.

For those users who already have Illuminator installed, their units can be upgraded to take advantage of this new feature.