Portugal begins switch to LED street lamps

Portugal’s Pombal City has transformed one of its roadways — Fidalgo Aprediz — with the nation’s first installation of solid-state street lighting.

The light-emitting diode (LED) lamps, Philips’ LUXEON® Rebel LEDs, were installed by the firm BlueSpan. The lamps are about 60 per cent more efficient than typical high-pressure sodium street lights, and replace the city’s previous mercury-vapour lamps.

“We are excited and pleased that the new street lights will not only reduce our energy consumption but that we will also begin the process of removing solutions with mercury from use in our city,” said Narciso Mota, mayor of Pombal City.

While Pombal City is the first in Portugal to install LED street lighting, more towns are expected to follow soon.

“Implementation in Portugal is being expanded with new installations in 40 different cities starting in May,” said David Marques, general manager of BlueSpan. “We see national conversion to solid-state technology as a realistic goal over the next several years.”