Fossil-free citiesThe Smart EPC project, kicked off in 2022, encompasses the improvement of public lighting and the addition of new innovative services in the municipalities of Rivas Vaciamadrid and Murcia in Spain, as well as similar activities in cities of Poland and France.
Rivas Vaciamadrid, a municipality of cca. 92,000 citizens, 15 km from the capital Madrid, incorporates today nearly all LED lighting, with about 10,000 points for streetlight, having completed the renovation in 2018.
In Rivas, the Smart EPC project provides assistance to several services, by improving data inventory with the creation of a single database, and by identifying and including smart contracts for a series of innovative services:
- database creation of all luminaires; data systems of the light optimised by point-to-point control with the UVAX system to increase the energy savings of the public lighting system, including the luminaires in UVAX system
- assistance and information on how and which innovative services are most suitable
- EV charging points
- Wi-Fi for citizens, integrated in the lamp post
- video cameras as sensors, in two sports courts.
The actual final consumption before the pilot was 2.3MWh and the expected results were about 10% of energy savings. Outside of the Smart EPC project, the municipality buys directly the electricity, and some PV installations are placed in public buildings for the reduction of electricity costs.
The UVAX system integrates in one platform all streetlight management, control, regulation, and all Smart solutions using the electric power network. The advantages of this solution include:
- open and scalable system
- works with B-PLC (Broadband Power Line Communication) using the existing wiring infrastructure
- “point-to-point” control of street light and smart measures
- increased efficiency leading to cost savings.
The main devices are the nodes in each luminaire and the Concentrator in the control panels, CM that manages the communications with the sever where the CMS (management software) is.
The system includes two main components:
- CMS/central management software: this server gathers all the information about electric control panels, power lines and luminaries, it also helps their control and regulation, as well as collects information about power, energy consumption, and failures. Additionally, it includes features regarding Smart measures, such as EV charging stations, Smart irrigation, Wi-Fi spots, sensors etc. The system can be accessed from any device connected to the internet.
- B-PLC connected to the control panels and nodes: these devices connect the luminaires and the control panels to the network to extract their status information, as well as to control them. They create a network of data exchange that is sent to the central management software so it can be processed. The information is transferred through the electric network; this can be especially useful as it takes advantage of the existing infrastructure. Nevertheless, it has speed and bandwidth limitations, thus some solutions might not be compatible with it, such as high-resolution video surveillance or 5G point. For these solutions optic fibre could be installed.
The image below shows the power data for 24 hours of all concentrators of the UVAX system in Rivas Vaciamadrid. Active power is shown in green and reactive power in red. A range of high active power at night can be observed.
