- All of the Asturian council’s lights will be replaced with energy-efficient LED bulbs for energy savings of over 80%.
The mayor of the municipality of Gozón in Asturias, Jorge Suárez, and Gonzalo Rodríguez San Juan, the Director of Local Administrations for Ferrovial Services Spain, have signed a contract for maintaining the public lighting grid for the City of Gozón that will be the first of its kind in Asturias.
The concession spans 18 years and has a budget of €7,187,323 for the renovation of the network and lights. The contract, which is scheduled to begin at the start of the year, includes energy management (the energy supply), management and maintenance of facilities, the repair or replacement of worn-out parts, and improvements and renovation for exterior lighting. This project will benefit more than 10,400 inhabitants in the region, a population that triples in the summer.
During this period, 4,997 light points will be replaced with LED technology, as will current dashboards and control centers. It is estimated that savings on energy consumption will be over 80%. The service will have an innovative point-to-point control system that will put the council on the cutting edge of telecommunications applied to public lighting, as well as an incident communication channel for citizens called Avisaweb.
Ferrovial Services’ collaboration with the City of Gozón will facilitate financially handling this necessary investment, which will bring significant benefits to the city council and to all residents in the area. Replacing the lighting system will lead to substantial savings in annual electricity consumption from the current €335,000 to €97,000, and it will reduce light pollution and CO2 emissions by 161.22 tons of CO2/year, with which approximately 600 dwellings could be supplied for about one year. This action will respond to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially Goal 7, affordable clean energy, and 13, climate action.
“I am pleased to sign this contract today, which will mark a before and after for the city, the municipal team’s strong commitment to improving light quality in the 13 parishes for all of the area’s residents, improving service and incident handling with a maximum response time of 24 hours”
“We’re put the Ferrovial team’s experience in energy efficiency and commitment at the service of the City of Gozón to renovate and maintain the entire light network in a smart way, creating value for the council, its residents, and the planet”
Renovations on light points will also be vital in improving lighting levels in rural areas where, until now, different phases of the grid were selectively shut down to reduce energy costs. With the new lights, this will no longer be necessary since this smart, efficient lighting system enables control by regulating the intensity and, therefore, light points’ consumption without cutting off the supply. In addition, areas that did not previously have street lighting will be lit, such as the heart of Posadorio in Cardo.
This project received a grant of €1.5 million from European funds in the ERDF Operational Framework for Sustainable Growth 2014/2020 in the Low-Carbon Economy program for the project on Unique Local Entities by IDAE, the Institute for Diversification and Saving of Energy.
