Lighting that Drives Development

Published on Wednesday, 21 March 2018

Public lighting is one of the key elements of cities. This lighting makes it possible to highlight the attractiveness of urban centers, contributing to their development, giving their citizens the opportunity to have a different experience, where they can fully enjoy public spaces.

ILLUMINATING CUSTOMERS’ QUALITY OF LIFE

Enel - Codensa is the largest public lighting operator in the country, with a total of 415 thousand lights approximately, provides lighting service to the capital, 34 municipalities of Cundinamarca, and supplies power to public lighting to more than 92 municipalities in Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Tolima and Meta.

Aware that public lighting is a part of the progress of communities, by giving them the opportunity to own their public spaces, in 2014 we started a modernization and remodeling project of the public lighting system in Bogotá together with the Special Public Services Administrative Unit (UAESP), which will continue until 2019.

In line with our objectives, this additional transformation to technological benefits such as lower energy consumption and greater visibility in the reproduction of colors for users also brings an important ecological benefit, since LED lighting does not have mercury in its composition, and generates significant savings in CO2 emissions.

Likewise, the fact that street lighting is strongly related to the perception of safety in cities, makes us even more committed as a company, because we are looking for activities and projects that help us improve the quality of life of our customers. At this point, the project for the modernization of public lighting becomes relevant and obliges us to take an important and imperative step forward in the transformation of 100% of our lights.

With public lighting, we seek to build a city, create areas of coexistence where its inhabitants can fully enjoy themselves. At the same time, we generate in people a sense of ownership over their communal areas, by recovering and enhancing the historical heritage of each community, committing them to their care and maintenance.

The project of modernization of public lighting benefits the whole community, achieving a positive increase in security and peace of mind of its inhabitants; It also has a positive impact on commercial activities and has fostered tourism, contributing to the productivity of the region.

 

“Beyond improving the lighting, with the modernization project that we have been implementing, we are improving the quality of life of the people, embellishing their municipalities and recovering their spaces. For the communities, the change has been very favorable not only in terms of security, but also in terms of their economic and social development”

– Diego Valderrama Acevedo, Deputy Manager of Public Lighting and New Services at Enel Colombia.

“Street lighting gives life to our town, now the people of Sesquile can go out at night and enjoy the facilities safely”

– Claudia Quintero, inhabitant of the Municipality of Sesquilé.

FACING THE FUTURE

Today, the global trend is to transform all energy systems to LED technology. The evolution of the company at a global level in this area has been continuous. That is why at Enel - Codensa, as a company of Enel Group Colombia, we have taken advantage of the experience, support and good practices in the public lighting market that the company has in the countries where it operates, and we have adapted it to the needs of our communities, to join the technology of the future.

So far, about 15 thousand lights have been modernized with LED technology between Bogotá and the other municipalities, with an estimated energy saving of 45%. We have transformed the lighting in the parks of the municipalities of Tocancipá, Chia, Cajicá and Tabio, Tenjo, the main roads of Zipaquirá, the urban sector of El Peñón. This year, we have already transformed to LED technology 100% of the public lighting of the municipality of Sesquilé, where about 1,400 lights were replaced, and soon we will be delivering to the community of the municipality of Nemocón 100% of the new public lighting, where we began the modernization works. On the other hand, in Bogotá, street lighting was recently modernized in areas such as El Dorado Avenue, 63rd Street, and Simón Bolívar Park, where about 2,800 LED-type lights were installed, as part of the Mayor's Office Street Lighting modernization plan.