Warsaw. Intelligent lighting control system. Tender. Offers. What is it about?

Warsaw continues to replace its lighting. Old lighting is being replaced by SAVA LED fixtures. Warsaw lighting consists of 122,000 fixtures and almost as many street lamp posts, illuminating over three thousand kilometers of roads. There are already 64.6 thousand SAVA fixtures in the capital, and over 87 thousand LED fixtures. This means that every second fixture in the city has been replaced.

“On an annual basis, SAVYs allow you to save up to two thirds of electricity compared to the old luminaires they replaced. This already brings almost PLN 42 million in savings annually, while at the same time significantly improving the quality of lighting. Their light is not only brighter, but also more focused, i.e. directed downwards. Thanks to this, the the phenomenon of so-called light pollution” – explains the Municipal Roads Authority in a press release.

In the next dozen or so months, road workers plan to replace the remaining several dozen thousand luminaires on municipal streets. This will also be LED lighting. “Thanks to this, Warsaw will consume another several dozen megawatt-hours less energy per year. Ultimately, there will be about 80 thousand SAVs alone, and almost all luminaires in the capital will be energy-efficient,” they emphasized.

– Warsaw is leading by example. And literally! Our program of replacing lighting with energy-saving SAVA luminaires can be a model for other cities – not only in Poland, but also in the whole of Europe. New luminaires not only bring us multi-million savings per year, but above all they increase road safety – says Rafał Trzaskowski, the mayor of Warsaw, quoted by road workers.

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At the end of February, road workers announced a tender for a remote control system for Warsaw street lights. “This system is to enable early detection of failures, monitoring energy consumption and controlling light intensity,” they explained. The submission of bids has ended. There are four in total: PLN 115.6 million (Orange Polska and Schreder Polska consortium), PLN 49.9 million (Lithuanian Consortium – Lucidus Techno UAB and Lucidus SIA), PLN 171.4 million (Emitel SA), PLN 44.4 million (Pollight).

“Two of the offers fit into our cost estimate. We will now analyze them in detail. We hope that the tender will be resolved,” ZDM informs.

As part of the implementation of a modern lighting control system, most of the luminaires will be equipped with a special controller – informing about their operation and allowing for advanced remote control. “This will enable not only quick detection of failures, but also their prediction. This will improve safety and reduce maintenance costs,” they add.

The system will also allow for the selection of the best lighting parameters on streets, sidewalks and bike paths. Road workers explain that based on the new devices, in the long term it will be possible to expand other existing systems and services (e.g. traffic measurements or monitoring of available parking spaces) and implement completely new ones. “The controller will allow for power supply of street lights 24 hours a day. Currently, they only have power after dark and it means that the lighting is automatically switched on,” they added.

The Municipal Roads Authority also plans to implement adaptive lighting, i.e. switching on, switching off or reducing the lighting level depending on weather conditions or traffic intensity. “This will allow for an even greater reduction in electricity consumption costs,” the road workers emphasize.

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– There is also a chance that in the future, there will be charging points for city bikes and scooters near the lamp posts, says Łukasz Puchalski, director of ZDM, quoted in the press release. Switching on the voltage 24 hours a day in the lamp posts could also power the devices and send data for the needs of dynamic passenger information in buses and trams.

– We do not rule out that in the future the lighting infrastructure may be used, for example, as the core of the urban 5G network, i.e. a fast bus for secure data exchange for the purposes of managing urban infrastructure – adds Łukasz Puchalski.

Pedestrian crossing accidents are a huge problem for cities. “And investments such as replacing street lighting improve the safety of Warsaw residents, including pedestrians and bicycle path users, but also drivers,” ZDM points out.

– That is why we decided to improve the situation. We conducted an audit of over four thousand pedestrian crossings. We set ourselves the most ambitious goal – “vision zero”. We strive to ensure that in our city there are no fatal accidents on roads, bike paths and sidewalks – explains Rafał Trzaskowski.

This is achieved by designating new pedestrian crossings based on audit results and modernizing and illuminating existing ones. In the years 2018-2023, two thousand crossings were illuminated in Warsaw. The infrastructure was also improved – in terms of safety – in 500 locations. Pedestrian refuges, elevations, speed bumps were added there, and visibility was improved.

According to road workers, in 2023 there were the fewest road accident victims (29 people) since such data has been collected, i.e. since 1983 (for comparison – in 1991 there were 314 victims). “In 6 years, the number of accidents has dropped by as much as 44 percent. Today, the capital has three times lower accident rates per million inhabitants than the national average and almost twice lower than the EU average,” they added.

They clarified that pedestrians constituted the majority of those injured in Warsaw a few years ago – today it is every third person. For the first time, the number of pedestrians killed on the streets of the capital is also close to single digits (11 victims).

Is Warsaw a safe city? As indicated by road engineers, research conducted by the capital city office among residents shows that 92 percent of respondents strongly and rather agree with the statement that the immediate area of ​​their place of residence is safe and peaceful.

“In the 'Quality of Life in European Cities' report from 2023, Warsaw is in first place among large European capitals and in the top ten of all European capitals whose residents feel safe walking alone on the street at night. This is stated by 77 percent of respondents in Warsaw. In Madrid, the figure is 68 percent, in Paris 65 percent, in Berlin and London 58 percent. Warsaw is only outpaced by small capitals such as Copenhagen, Oslo, and Helsinki,” reports ZDM.