– Hamburg is changing the technology for more than 126,000 street lamps.
The city of Hamburg is replacing its outdated public lighting system this summer, affecting around 126,000 street, path and square lights. The ageing Tone Frequency Ripple Control (TFR) system, provided by Stromnetz Hamburg (SNH), will no longer be available due to its obsolescence and inability to meet current requirements. Instead, a new, environmentally friendly system based on European Radio Control (EFR) will be implemented.
TFR technology will be history by the end of the year
The TFR technology has been used by SNH for various applications such as controlling night storage, clubhouse lighting and public lighting. However, its time has passed and the Transport Authority has declared it obsolete. This technology will not be installed during the upcoming city network upgrade and its signal transmission will be discontinued on December 31, 2024.
Hamburg has started installing the new EFR control technology since December 2021. To make this a success, around 49,000 individual receivers in the Hamburg area have been updated. These are centrally controlled via FM radio from transmitter sites in Mainflingen near Frankfurt and Burg near Magdeburg, which will switch the approximately 126,000 lighting systems on or off. In the future, the lighting will be brightness-controlled.
New technology saves energy and protects the environment
“This city-wide implementation ensures the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly use, meaning lamps only come on when they are really needed,” said Martin Bill of the Transport Authority. “The new technology also enables more demand-based control of selected areas, such as paths in the People’s Park leading to the arenas during events.” In the coming years, all street lights will also be converted to LED technology to improve the lighting of the paths and make them more sustainable.
The European Union has played a major role in the development of the new EFR control technology used in Hamburg’s lighting system upgrade. European Union funding and regulations have helped promote the use of green technologies such as EFR that reduce energy consumption and improve environmental performance.
In addition, the outdated TFR system it is intended to replace will use technology no longer used in the European Union, making the new EFR system a more modern and widely used choice for public lighting systems within the European Union.
