Cities and their infrastructures change with digitalization, as those in positions of responsibility are continuously working on better ways to save energy and costs. Sustainability and reduction in CO2 emissions are the focus and continuously gaining in importance. Furthermore, modern cities want to offer their citizens consistently new and better services and see themselves as service providers. The route to a future-proof development is reached via innovative strategies and the implementation of state-of-the-art technologies in order to create internal processes and organizations which are as smart as possible.
This is the aim of Gijón, the largest city in the region of Asturias on Spain's north coast. As part of the digital transformation plan, the city council took the first step with T-Systems: the intelligent management of public lighting. This measure was awarded the prize for the best smart city project at the sixth National Congress of Innovation and Public Services (CNIS) in Madrid. The city council saves around 100,000 euros each year with its improved use of resources and the LED light spots consume less energy.
The cost reduction of around 100,000 euros annually with improved use of resources.
Energy savings with the efficient use of resources and the implementation of modern LED-1040 light spots.
Use of IoT for the integration of various intelligent services.
More efficient public services using the new potential management and information services such as intelligent parking systems and garbage containers.
With the communications network for all IoT applications from the T-Systems cloud, as a first step, we have achieved energy savings and cost reductions. This project has also formed the basis for further future innovations.
Fernando Álvarez García, Head of Strategy and Modernization, Gijón City Council
The city council is pursuing a digital transformation plan to lower costs and increase sustainability. Lighting, green spaces and parking spaces are to be shaped to a greater extent by digitalization in future. Even the previous system of public lighting did not meet the same technical standard as the other public services.
Gijón modernized more than 1,000 public light fixtures in the city center using LED technology. A central control system consisting of PE.AMI nodes now also monitors the entire lighting grid. This system stems directly from the T-Systems cloud, simultaneously creating a communication network for all IoT applications which are to be integrated into the city in future.
The integrated management model enables the intelligent and efficient management of the city's resources and services. Because of the cloud support from T-Systems, information is available in real-time - both for those in a position of responsibility for the city and for the third-party providers. This project paves the way for many further approaches with regard to the smart city, for example, intelligent parking systems, garbage containers and measurement of air quality. The developed cloud platform offers the ideal foundation for this.
Gijón is a Spanish city with just under 280,000 inhabitants and also the economic center of the region of Asturias. The port and industrial city has largely heavy industry with smelting works, shipyards and machine building.