Birmingham, United Kingdom, to start multi-year deployment of 41,000 LED streetlights in September
Monday, August 23, 2010
By New Streetlights staff
Birmingham, United Kingdom, will initiate an ambitious, multi-year deployment of over 41,000 LED streetlight fixtures in September 2010.
Birmingham City Council, which governs the second largest city in the United Kingdom, will oversee the installation of over 41,000 LED streetlights over the next five years. The city currently has more than 95,000 streetlights.
The streetlight overhaul is part of Birmingham City Council’s £2.7 billion ($4.2B) private finance initiative with public service provider Amey, which will upgrade and maintain the city’s road network for the next 25 years. During the first five years, 50% of the streetlights will involve complete replacement of posts, luminaires and lanterns.
Birmingham’s current lighting stock is primarily high pressure sodium (HPS and SON) and low pressure sodium (SOX). Other streetlight technologies in Birmingham include mercury vapor and a small number of metal halide and fluorescent light sources.
Starting in September 2010, all residential areas will be upgraded to LED streetlights. In the short-term, traffic routes will be switched to SON (HPS) with dimmable electronic controls and subsequently upgraded to LEDs. In addition, all tunnel lighting will be converted to LED fixtures.
The selected luminaire is Stela, developed by Indal, incorporating CREE LEDs. According to Amey, the advantages of the chosen LED luminaires are numerous. The Stela luminaire will reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions significantly. The long life and minimal maintenance requirements will cut operating costs immediately. The fully dimmable LED streetlights will provide good optical control, which allows for both the reduction of light pollution and obtrusive light. The city also expects a reduction in the fear of crime as a result of the improved illumination and excellent color rendering of the selected LED streetlights.
Indal’s Stela luminaire was specifically designed to utilize LEDs as a light source, and there have been no failures in the 2,000+ fixtures installed by Amey to date.
With the roll-out of the LED streetlights, fixtures will no longer be controlled by photo-electric cells. Birmingham’s entire lighting system will be remotely controlled and managed, allowing for switching or dimming on demand. The central management system can control the lights individually or in groups, such as road by road, by geographical area or by road hierarchy. The system will also enable varying lighting levels to match traffic conditions. If needed, light levels can be raised above normal to respond to an accident or major event.
In addition to improved lighting levels, by 2016, energy consumption will be reduced by more than 30%. Dimming of the LED fixtures could reduce streetlight electricity consumption in Birmingham by as much as 40%.
© 2010 New Streetlights
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