Madrid switches to smart lights

Royal Philips is providing the government of the city of Madrid with 225,000 new energy-efficient lights to support its ambition of becoming a smart city. The renewal of the entire street lighting system with Philips’ connected LEDs and other energy-efficient lighting makes this the world’s largest street lighting upgrade to date, according to Philips.

The products, which deliver 44% in energy savings, will finance the cost of the technology upgrade, providing the city of Madrid with the best quality of street lighting for a brighter, safer and smarter city at no additional cost to its citizens. The project has been conducted in collaboration with ESCO energy service companies hired by the Madrid city council through a public bidding process.

“This will be the biggest technological renewal ever seen in Madrid city. A change that will allow achieving some important goals. Namely, reducing the city’s energy consumption thanks to energy-efficient luminaires, extending the lifespan of the city lighting and controlling light pollution by enabling the regulation of the intensity of light when and where it’s needed,” said Ana Botella, Madrid’s mayor. The new lighting installation allows us to make significant progress towards becoming a smart and sustainable city, Botella added.

The new city lighting system benefits from a command panel capable of regulating the intensity and duration of lighting across the city according to where it is most needed. “The lighting renewal project in Madrid is a step forward in the creation of a city prepared for the future,” said Juan Sanabria, CEO of Philips Iberia.

“Philips’s contribution towards Madrid’s efforts to become a smarter, safer and energy-efficient city takes account of the needs of citizens and consumers by providing a lighting infrastructure that offers benefits beyond illumination.”

Ambilamp will recycle replaced lamps and lampposts in accordance with current regulations for the safe disposal of products containing heavy metals, such as mercury. The renewal process in figures:

• 225,000 street lights will be replaced with Philips technology (including luminaires on avenues, streets, historic monuments and parks).
• 84,000 will be locally manufactured Philips LED lamps and luminaires, including 51,000 globe-shaped lampposts  and 33,000 LED plates to be installed within existing lampposts.
• The remaining street lights will be equipped with more energy-efficient non-LED lighting solutions provided by Philips.
• The city will save over 44% of its energy consumption after installation.