To save energy, highways lighting brightness in Spain will vary with traffic

The country’s transport ministry unveiled an Energy Efficiency Strategy that seeks to halve power consumption on the roads

Yesterday, 25 October, the Spanish Ministry of Transport presented a plan to reduce energy consumption on the country’s motorways by 50% in the next six years. The cornerstone of the new Energy Efficiency Strategy will be the modernization and “smartification” of road-side lighting, which will be fully based on LED technology that will change the luminosity according to the intensity of traffic below.

Thus, the Ministry plans to invest some 510 million euros in modernizing the lighting system, generating savings in energy demand and being less dependent on fossil fuels.

There’s a light that never goes out, it only dims

The Strategy contemplates acting on lighting in tunnels and open-air sections, where smart lighting management systems will be implemented and the change from high-pressure sodium vapour lights to LED technology will be promoted.

The replacement of the luminaires will generate savings of between 30 and 40%, and can reach 70% if the deployment of intelligent lighting management systems is added, which allow it to be regulated depending on the presence or absence of vehicles and users.

The Ministry also presented some numbers in order to better visualize the scope of the intended energy savings. For example, they would be equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 65,000 homes. They would also be equivalent to having the emissions of 30,000 vehicles removed from the atmosphere, or planting 3.5 million trees.

Furthermore, in economic terms, the installation and maintenance of the new lighting network will create 7,650 direct and indirect jobs.

In addition, to achieve the objective of reducing dependence on external energy sources and fossil fuels, pilot experiences are being promoted at different points of the State Highway Network to, for example, install solar panels in highway maintenance centres or in public domain areas.