UK-based IoT company Telensa, which is rapidly becoming a global leader in connected street lighting and smart city applications, has announced that its smart streetlight controls are being deployed in 64,000 LED luminaires as part of the City of Edinburgh’s energy efficiency program.
Telensa was selected by digital transformation and IT service company CGI Group, in an LED replacement contract run by the city’s infrastructure services provider Amey. The deployment is already underway and is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.
The Edinburgh project involves Telensa’s PLANet technology, which is now the world’s most deployed smart streetlight system, with a footprint of more than 1.5 million connected lights. Due to the success of its PLANet system in May this year, the company was recognized for two Queen’s Awards for Enterprise: one for Innovation, and the other for International Trade.
Telensa’s PLANet is a wireless central management system (CMS) that enables centralized remote control of a city’s lighting. It consists of wireless nodes connecting individual lights, dedicated wireless connectivity and a central management application. PLANet provides real-time monitoring to identify and track faults, which will cut the number of residents’ complaints about broken street lights, and removes the need for street lighting staff to undertake night-time patrols to identify faulty lights.
It also measures actual energy consumption, submitting information directly to the Meter Administrator and increasing the accuracy of energy billing. The system pays for itself in reduced energy and maintenance costs, improves quality of service, and enables streetlight poles to act as hubs for smart city sensors, such as air quality, parking and traffic monitoring systems.
“We are rolling out energy efficient street lights with smart remote controls to communities right across the capital, starting this summer and continuing on a ward-by-ward basis until the end of 2020,” explained City of Edinburgh Council’s transport and environment convener, Lesley Macinnes.
“We’re making every effort to minimize disruption to residents and businesses throughout, and will target information to communities as the roll-out comes to their area.”
Will Gibson, founder and chief commercial officer at Telensa, commented, “We are working with our partners in Edinburgh to deliver an efficient and smart street lighting control system, one that will be responsive to citizens’ needs for decades to come. We’re looking forward to working together build a new generation of smart city applications, all enabled by the city’s lighting network.”
Justene Ewing, VP for consulting services and partnership director for CGI at the City of Edinburgh Council, said, “We are delighted to be working with Telensa to unlock the efficiency gains and smart city potential of connected street lighting. This project is another step in our long-term digital transformation of public services throughout Edinburgh.”
