At the end of 2019 Dutch capital launched an international tendering for the complete renovation of one third of its public lighting infrastructure for an amount of 10 million Euros. This project involves changing a total of 42,000 light points, which can be extended to 50,000. Within the European Union, only southern European cities such as Milan or Madrid have implemented such ambitious programmes.
This competitive bidding process was based, among others, on the following criteria: environmental and social sustainability, the reduction in the long-term total cost of the ownership -as a result of the incorporation of LED technology- and the minimization of its impact on public health -increasing comfort and well-being of citizens-. In this way, only the most sustainable and reliable lighting manufacturers in the world were able to opt for this tendering with guaranteed success.
After a meticulous process of analysis and technical verification of the characteristics and traceability of the proposed products, the Galician company SETGA was the manufacturer best rated by the Amsterdam City Council. As a result, the enterprise was selected to undertake one of the greatest public lighting transformations in the history of the EU. At the end of February 2020, the final award was made, and the tendering between the Amsterdam City Council and SETGA began on 1 March. This tendering
will last until 2022.
This award not only guarantees the workload on SETGA's assembly lines in Pontevedra over the next two years, but also represents a boost to the Galician industry of mechanical and electronic components: aluminium extrusion presses located in Padrón, steel from Pontevedra and A Coruña, together with electronic automotive auxiliaries located in Ourense and Vigo will participate, among other local industries, in the supply of the components needed to manufacture LED equipment in the city of Amsterdam.
The compaction of 81% of the value chain in a radius of less than 150 km within Galicia -and the remaining 15% in a radius of no more than 1,200 km within the rest of Spain- minimises the footprint derived from transport and the production of electro- intensive components such as aluminium or glass.
Its “all made in Spain” philosophy, which guarantees the complete manufacture of SETGA’s luminaires in Western Europe, was highly valued by the Amsterdam City Council when it came to verifying the minimisation of the carbon footprint derived from production. A total of 4150 Tn of CO2 less during the production phase and a reduction of 8318 Tn of CO2 during just the first year of operation of the new LED luminaires.
The modularity of SETGA’s LED equipment and the interchangeability of all its
mechanical and electronic components guarantee the extension of its useful life and the future updating of the technology without discarding the assembly. At the same time, the city of Amsterdam has unique lanterns with a markedly ancestral character whose design has defined the personality of the city since the beginning of the century. For this reason, SETGA’s proposal included the possibility of updating its technology to LED systems.
The development of the unique lighting was SETGA’s gateway to Amsterdam’s City Hall in 2013 and 2015 when it won two consecutive international competitions to develop and manufacture two signature designs using LED technology that illuminated Amsterdam’s most central avenues including the iconic Dam Square.
The reliability generated by SETGA’s LED technology positioned the Spanishmanufacturer within the Dutch capital as one with unique and high added value projects in terms of energy efficiency, durability and comfort. However, this latest award reaffirms its capabilities as a manufacturer of high-performance functional lighting capable of competing in the mainstream of the public lighting market with large, historic multinationals in the most ambitious, massive renovation processes in the EU.
The tendering’s requirements in terms of health and comfort limited glare levels and colour temperature to 3000K medium technologies that neutralise the blue peak in order to protect the night sky and respect the citizens’ circadian rhythms. The modularity of the system could allow Amsterdam to implement SETGA’s Circadionic®️ technology in the future by varying the colour temperatures according to the time of day and the specific needs of the road.
The Galician company SETGA has consolidated its position as one of the sector’s most important players in the international market, with a presence in more than 15 countries and four continents. SETGA has also become one of the TOP 3 companies in the Dutch market, where the presence of its “made in Spain” LED luminaires has had an impact on more than 100 municipalities.
This technological company reaffirms its capacity to compete in the large global infrastructure market. In fact, its technology is presented in Rotterdam’s port, in the railway stations of the Netherlands, the City Life park in Milan or in central avenues of cities such as Dubai, Kuwait, or Doha, Tel Aviv, San José de Costa Rica, Puebla in Mexico among others. The project to install new traffic lights on the Gran Vía in Madrid is another of the company’s most remarkable projects.