Investments in LED and smart streetlighting are not likely to be halted, even in pandemic time. According to Northeast Group’s forecasts, global market is expected to reach a value of USD 28.1 billion over the next decade, including spending for LED and smart lighting infrastructure, related sensors, and management software. Software alone will account for over $200 million in annual recurring revenue by 2029.
Today there are about 326 million streetlights all over the world, and this should grow to over 361 million by 2030. We know a quarter of all streetlights globally have already been converted to LEDs and over 10 million have been connected to smart networks. If forecasts are right and investment trends are confirmed, we will have about 73% LED-based lamps and up to 25% smart streetlights in the world by 2030.
Advantages of Smart Lighting are very well known. Installing energy-efficient LED lamps immediately makes Cities save up to 70% in power consumption and related costs. Up to 25% more power can be saved if enabling full remote management and control of single or grouped luminaires by connecting them to a sentient IoT network, introducing key features such as scheduled on/off switching, and adaptive dimming.
There is more. Nowadays streetlights are a canvas for urban innovation, improving not only sustainability and efficiency, but creating opportunities for mobility, public safety, tourism, and overall quality of life.
Being a sort of nervous system for any City, streetlight networks connect almost any district and street with access to power. That’s why they can easily become a rich sensor platform, collecting vital data for a myriad of urban applications. Example of services that can be deployed together with Smart Lighting include traffic light controls, traffic and district video surveillance, air quality and environmental monitoring, pervasive WiFi and broadband connectivity.
Looking at streetlights as the backbone of smarter communities urges City managers to have a broad, far-sighted strategy, and possibly make use of new financing models. As reported by Cities Today, infrastructure investment funds, energy services companies (ESCOs) and urban management consultants are playing a growing role in financing and carrying out smart streetlighting projects. This might become an interesting option for municipalities facing budget shortages due by Covid-related economic issues.
As Cities seek flexible funding options and new public-private partnership models, they increasingly need to demonstrate Smart Lighting and other urban applications will generate a measurable return, and turn into an opportunity for the benefit of all, including investors.
How to make sure smart investments create both efficiency and new revenue streams? How to make sure they will support and stimulate future growth? In our experience, interoperability and openness are the best answers.
When a City builds on a standard-based infrastructure such as PE Smart Urban Network, it takes advantage a single wireless network and a single central management suite to remotely control any Wireless IoT and Wireless IoT Highspeed application, with full interoperability in device, data, and application management. There are no constraints on future expansion and integration of additional services and third-party systems, and lots of opportunities to innovate and enable forward-looking data monetization models.
Eager to read more? Download our paper ‘A Smart City is an interoperable City’ and review our ondemand webinar.