Bouygues E&S completes road tunnel LED lighting upgrade for Kent County Council

Bouygues Energies & Services, an Equans company, has completed a contract for the design and build of a new LED lighting and control system for Chestfield Road Tunnel on the A299 near Whitstable for Kent County Council.

The energy-efficient lighting solution will result in energy savings of over one million kWh per year, a 63% reduction, equivalent to the energy bills for over 340 homes per year.

The tunnel lighting replacement project presented a significant opportunity to lower the authority’s energy consumption and carbon footprint, and in turn, reduce maintenance and electricity costs. The previous lighting system had passed its designed life span, and its maintenance and costs had been increasing year after year just to keep the lights on.

The tunnel was predominately lit with old-fashioned fluorescent tubes containing mercury, a hazardous substance. Forthcoming changes in the law will effectively ban the sale of these lamps going forward, which would have created further maintenance issues if not upgraded. The newly installed LED system will massively reduce maintenance works and running costs for Kent County Council.

The works included the removal and recycling of all existing lighting systems, cabling along with the associated steelwork, control systems, and the installation of new stainless steel suspension systems and cable trays, in addition to the latest and most efficient LED lighting technology.

The installation was controlled by a completely new state-of-the-art lighting control system incorporating luminance meters (photometers) and an RS-485 duplex communication system running throughout the tunnel connecting the DALI-controlled lighting to the existing overall tunnel SCADA control system. As part of these works, modifications and replacement to switchgear and electrical distribution systems were carried out, including 14 tunnel distribution panels, 38 function units in existing LV switchboards and over 14km of power cabling, including both AC and DC systems.

Additionally, the tunnel’s uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems and battery storage facilities, which are at the end of their design life, have been replaced with an efficient and cost-effective state-of-the-art UPS system.

Matt Fitzpatrick, Connected Cities Divisional Sales Director for Bouygues E&S’, says, “The Chestfield Tunnel lighting upgrade solution will play a key role in helping Kent County Council reduce its carbon footprint while providing a sound return on investment and reduced ongoing maintenance costs.”

Neil Baker, Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, comments, “This has been an excellent project and a demonstration of how, with the right contractor and careful planning, a very satisfactory improvement to the asset can be brought about, ensuring its resilience and greater usability into the future.”