Arraiolos, Portugal: 50% of energy savings thanks to LED technology

As of late, the streets in the historic centre of Arraiolos in Portugal have been lit up entirely by energy-efficient LED bulbs, used in combination with an intelligent lighting management system. This project, the first of its kind in the entire country. In future, the new street lighting shall ensure energy savings of about 50 percent.

Arraiolos in Portugal is particularly well known for its traditional carpets and its castle, which is more than 700 years old and characterises the appearance of the town. The town being steeped in history, it now also symbolises the future. The reason for this is the following: when the public lighting was reconfigured, the outdated and inefficient street lanterns used in the historic town centre were replaced completely by new luminaires that use energy-efficient LED-technology in combination with an intelligent lighting management system (LMS).

Additional savings, thanks to LMS component

An important component of the installation is the intelligent lighting management system, by means of which the street lights can be centrally controlled via Power Line Communication (PLC). Hence, not only can the lighting intensity of every single luminaire be programmed, the light is also only provided where it is really needed, and efficiently at that. Thanks to the combination of this light control and the efficient LED-technology, the community of Arraiolos can attain a significant reduction of their energy consumption by approximately 50 percent as well as of their CO2 emissions.