Gran Canaria, also called Grand Canary Island, is the second most populous of Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago which lies around 150km off the coast of north-west Africa. The island is home to more than 900,000 people and the GC-1 carries more than 100,000 vehicles a day.
The Gran Canaria South Highway, the GC-1, connects the island’s capital Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and its international airport to the tourist destinations on the island’s south side. The highway was illuminated with Philips TrafficVision streetlights - 400W sodium luminaires - in 1990.
As the luminaires reached the end of their lifetime, the Cabildo, the island’s governing council, moved to improve lighting performance and reduce energy consumption. It chose Philips DigiStreet LEDs, with an output of 32,000 lumens and standardised Zhaga connectors, and which provide a 2700K colour temperature. These were matched with Interact City connected lighting software.
The Canary Islands have the darkest skies in Europe, offering exceptional conditions to observe the stars and hosting several internationally renowned observatories. The luminaires must comply with all regulations of the Instituto Astrofísico de Canarias and the Light Pollution Regulation for the Canary Islands.
Signify’s solution supports the Cabildo’s goal of preserving the outstanding conditions for viewing the night sky as required by the island’s world renowned observatories, explained Francisco Quintana, key account manager with Signify. “We achieved a luminance level of 2 cd/m² uniformity, as well as a glare of less than 10 URG.”
The lighting upgrade also helps to respect the island’s biodiversity and reduces CO2 emissions and the island’s carbon footprint without compromising road safety and driving experience.
“We have developed a clear and sustainable project for our lighting system,” said Antonio Morales, president of the Cabildo de Gran Canarias. “Upgrading to the Philips DigiStreet LEDs with Interact City results in economic savings of installed power with 50%, amortising the cost of installation in less than the luminaires’ lifetime.”
With Interact City, the Cabildo de Gran Canarias can monitor the lighting in real time, collect and analyse data and assign maintenance tasks. Meanwhile, the Philips DigiStreet LEDs avoid glare and render colours accurately at the darkest of times.
Combining Philips DigiStreet Large LED lights with standardised Zhaga connectors and Interact City gives highway operators ultimate control. “This helps the Cabildo to gain insights into issues to support decision-making and act where possible,” said Josep Martínez, Signify’s market lead for the Iberia area.
The system allows for simple maintenance, point-by-point management and enables real-time adjustment to deal with any situation on the highway. For example, increasing light in an area where an accident has occurred or dimming the lights to 30% when no vehicles are on the road.
The street lighting system also offers the Cabildo new connected capabilities as time goes on, according to Signify.
Massey Tunnel
A major lighting upgrade is underway in the ageing George Massey Tunnel within the greater Vancouver area in western Canada.
Being replaced are 400W high pressure sodium units that were custom-made for the tunnel and installed in 2005. The ageing power system limits lighting output of the old fixtures, according to the British Columbia provincial government. The current project includes upgrading the power system.
The LED replacements are Lumec TunnelView, made by Signfy, based in the Netherlands. The lights come in small, medium and large sizes and all can be mounted on a wall or a ceiling. There are nine mounting options suitable for tunnels and underpasses, according to the company. There is a slip fitter mount and a swivel mount. The fixed-bracket option allows for positioning of -15°, -10°, -5°, 0°, 5°, 10° and 15°.
The contract, valued at nearly US$15 million, is part of $40 million worth of interim safety and reliability improvements ahead of a likely replacement for the tunnel.
“We continue to move ahead with our work to replace the George Massey Tunnel, but in the meantime, we are making immediate safety improvements,” said Claire Trevena, minister of transportation and infrastructure for the province of British Columbia. “Plans for the new future crossing are underway with a business case expected to be ready for the fall.”
Other work now ongoing includes improving tunnel drainage to prevent ice build-up and water from pooling at tunnel entrances. The ventilation and electrical systems will also be upgraded.
The majority of work will be done at night and all improvements are scheduled to be completed by spring 2021. The ageing 61-year-old tunnel is part of the busy Highway 99 along the Pacific coast and runs under the Fraser River. It is also Canada’s only tunnel below sea level. The tunnel now carries more than its design limit of 80,000 vehicles a day. Extensive renovations to the tunnel and attempts to improve access roads have been done over the years, but the structure has only about 10 years of useful life, according to some reports. An earlier replacement proposal – a 3km-long 10-lane cable-stayed bridge costing $2.8 billion - was underway in 2015 with the government saying that construction was on target to start in 2017 with completion in 2022. But a new provincial government was elected in 2017 before work started and the project was scrapped.
Digistreet for Wakefield
The English city of Wakefield is installing Signify Digistreet lighting in a major three-year upgrade project to LED technology.
Nearly $27.1 million is being spent on the new technology, which is forecast to have a 13-year return on investment.
Amey, the services contractor which won the contract will upgrade more than 43,000 streetlights to reduce the council’s street lighting energy consumption by 65%. It is estimated that the project will reduce the council's carbon emissions by a minimum of 3,700 tonnes. Amey has been working with the council since 2004, noted Nick Powell, street lighting account director at Amey. The Digistreet lights' two sockets enable connection directly to the Philips CityTouch system. Each individual luminaire is uniquely identifiable, thanks to the Philips Service tag application. With a scan of a QR code located on the inside of the mast door, maintenance personnel have instant access to the luminaire configuration which also makes programming operations faster and easier, no matter what stage of the luminaire’s lifetime. Digistreet is also equipped with dedicated light recipes that can maintain optimal ecosystems for bats or preserve a dark night sky.
The lights will be controlled by a central management system in which a mobile communication network send instructions to the lighting network as well gathers information regarding the physical condition of the luminaires to automatically identify faults.
“We have made an important pledge to become a carbon neutral organisation by 2030 and this project is a big part of our plans to do so,” said Matthew Morley, Wakefield’s cabinet member for Planning and Highways.
Vermont chooses TLACS-A
Nyx Hemera Technologies has announced the installation of its TLACS-A lighting control and dimming solution in a pedestrian and cyclist tunnel in the US. TLACS-A can be used for any outdoor area, such as tunnels, that requires monitoring, energy management and increased safety. An example is the pedestrian and cyclist underpass in the town of Bolton in the north-eastern state of Vermont. While it is only about 6m long, the tunnel is in a secluded location.
"The Bolton Tunnel is a good example of the type of site where the TLACS-A can be installed,” said Pierre Longtin, president of Nyx Hemera, based in Quebec City, Canada. The company develops and markets a solution for intelligent lighting control for road tunnels, underpasses and areas where wireless communication cannot be used either for security or installation reasons.
Built in 1964, the Bolton Tunnel is part of efforts by Vermont’s state transportation authority, VTrans, to upgrade road conditions to improve the safety and efficiency. Renovation of the tunnel was necessary following the identification of structural cracking VTrans took the opportunity to refurbish its lighting system and install TLACS-A, from Nyx Hemera Technologies.
The Bolton tunnel has 11 luminaires embedding LPCs, the local luminaire controllers. These communicate with the Area Dimming Cabinet (ADE), which is programmed for a lighting level of 60% at night and 80% during the day. Due to limited traffic, the luminaires are manually activated by users at the tunnel entrances so that the lighting is used only when necessary, thereby minimising energy consumption.
