Signify, is transforming Gran Canaria’s most important highway, known as GC-1, into a smart highway with Interact City. The Cabildo (council) of Gran Canaria has upgraded the lighting system to LEDs that provide a 2700K colour temperature. This supports its main, objective of preserving the outstanding, conditions for viewing the night sky as required by the Canarian Observatories. It 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. The new lighting has already resulted in positive reactions from road users, who report having a better driving experience.
Antonio Morales, President, Cabildo de Gran Canarias, said: “We have developed a clear and sustainable project for our lighting system. It’s a major revolution in energy efficiency and cost savings. Upgrading to the Philips DigiStreet LEDs with Interact City results in economic savings of installed power with 50%, amortizing 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 analyze data, and assign maintenance tasks to technicians. The Philips DigiStreet LED luminaires avoid glare, improve visual comfort, offer uniformity of light distribution, and render colours accurately. Combining Philips DigiStreet Large LED lights with standardized Zhaga connectors and Interact City gives highway operators ultimate control.
Josep Martínez, Market Leader Iberia, Signify said: “The luminaires with Zhaga connectors make the highway ready for the future, enabling sensing capabilities for monitoring environmental conditions such as motion, tilt, vibration, and noise. This helps the Cabildo to gain insights into issues to support decision-making and act where possible.”
Another important aspect of the project was the local regulations concerning the night sky. 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 (IAC) and the Light Pollution Regulation for the Canary Islands.
