LONDON: Madrid leads the LED revolution in Europe, upgrading the totality of its street lighting in the largest project in the world of this kind. The new technology will save almost half of the energy used to light the streets of the Spanish capital.

The project consists of 225,000 new energy-efficient lights provided by Philips, which has already done something similar in Argentina, Sweden and the Netherlands. Philips is a partner of The Climate Group’s project LED scale up, committed to build smart, more sustainable cities through more efficient lights.

LED street lights in Madrid. (All photos courtesy of Philips)

The efficiency of the new interconnected LED lights provided by Philips will enable energy savings of 44%, which will repay the cost of the technology upgrade – making the project costless for Madrid’s citizens. The lights will be controlled by a central system that will allow to regulate the lights across the city of 3.5 million people.

“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,” commented Ana Botella, Madrid’s mayor. “The new lighting installation allows us to make significant progress towards becoming a smart city, which is more sustainable and, in conclusion, a more liveable city”.

LED street lights in Madrid.

“The lighting renewal project in Madrid is a step forward in the creation of a city prepared for the future,” added 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”.