Portugal first started to install LED street lighting in April 2009, when they were installed on a street in the Portuguese town of Pombal. Since then, work to install such lighting in a further nine towns and cities across the country has continued at a high pace. The installation work is being conducted by a unique consortium of companies in the energy, lighting and construction industries: Exporlux and its development division BlueSpan, which is responsible for the luminaire design, and Rosas Construtores SA have joined forces under the name EnergiaViva to deliver a complete solid state street lighting solution to municipalities.
The solution, which uses LUXEON Rebel power LEDs from Philips Lumileds, provide an attractive combination of power efficiency, CRI, uniform light distribution and low maintenance and repair costs. These qualities have meant that this lighting solution has quickly gained favour with numerous municipalities in Portugal and during the summer, UrbanLED street lights have been installed on streets in the towns of Alcochete, Moita, Barreiro, Arraiolos, Santa Maria de Feira Vale de Cambra, Estarreja, Coimbra and Torres Vedras.
Local residents and municipality officials have shown their support for the new lighting which provides white light, transforming areas that were previously a dark yellowish colour from the high-pressure sodium lamps that they replace. The forecast implementation of UrbanLED in towns and cities around Portugal is also proof of the compelling financial case that this high-efficiency, low-maintenance street lighting solution offers.
“In the ten towns that have UrbanLED street lights, the municipal authorities are already seeing the benefits—a hugely improved urban environment at night time, lower electricity costs and a reduced requirement for the time of maintenance crews,” said Luis Mota, Director of EnergiaViva. “It's encouraging to see how many more local authorities in Portugal are also taking a long-term view and investing in state-of-the-art lighting. We see a complete national conversion to solid-state technology as a realistic goal over the next several years.”
Installation work in a further 20 Portuguese municipalities is expected to be completed this autumn.
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