In public lighting, it is very important to consider remote management, says Răzvan Copoiu, CEO of Signify for Romania and South-Eastern Europe. Not only from the perspective of energy saving, which is the main benefit, but also from the point of view of security. “If a luminaire adjusts its intensity on its own – to illuminate either less when there is no traffic in the area, or more when the area is crowded, or if it adjusts its color – for example, in foggy conditions, only then can we talk about proper and safe lighting”, he said, at the conference “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency in Industry – Iasi”, organized by Energynomics.
Companies operating in the public lighting sector track the programs of the Environmental Fund Administration – AFM for local authorities. “We are open to offer technical consultancy and to find solutions for any kind of public lighting, especially now, when we will benefit from European funds. It’s about smart lighting, through tele-management, and some auctions have already been made in this respect – it’s not something new for town halls. We can also discuss the increase in interactivity, given that lighting fixtures can now also provide high-speed internet in their area of action. The architectural segment is also important, as shown by the Palace of Culture in Iasi, where Signify took care of the exterior lighting”, he added.
Signify (Philips Lighting) has in its portfolio both Philips and other brands of lighting products . “We are no. 1 on the LED lighting segment, not only in Romania, but also worldwide. The energy efficiency of these systems, launched in 2008 by Philips, is clear, but more important now is the IoT, the smart city elements”, says Copoiu.
In 2012, the smart lighting division, Philips CityTouch, was created and the Philips Hue ambient lighting products, dedicated to residential area, were launched. Wiz is also a brand new smart lighting dedicated to consumers.
“In 2016, the company decided to split Philips into several divisions, one was the TV division, which was sold to another manufacturer, the area of medical equipment and home appliances remained under the Philips brand, and Philips Lighting became Signify, to delimit the divisions, including because of stock exchange related reasons. In March 2018, the IoT Interact platform appeared – it represents a cloud architecture through which we can control all the lighting fixtures, both the existing ones and the new ones, using remote equipment”.
If in 2013 the LED segment represented only 26% of sales, in 2019 it reached a market share of over 78%. At the same time, if in 2012 only 50 lighting fixtures were connected to the platform, today, the number exceeded 56 million connected fixtures, including from Romania.
LED technology saves 80% energy compared to conventional lighting fixtures. “By controlling the intensity and color and many other parameters of LED lighting fixtures, we can make substantial more savings,” said Răzvan Copoiu.
