A Swedish technology procurement competition for public outdoor lighting

Nils Borg, Borg & Co, Sweden

Keywords

technology procurement, public lighting, street lighting, luminaires, Stockholm LIP Council, Sweden, municipalities, buyer group, light pollution, sky glow, park lighting

Abstract

A technology procurement competition for residential street and park luminaires is currently being arranged by the City of Stockholm’s Council for the Local Investment Programme (LIP Council), which has a mission to create environmentally sustainable solutions. The project is still ongoing. Submitted luminaries have been tested and evaluated.

Technology procurement is an important market transformation tool in the effort to stimulate development and commercialisation of resource-efficient technology in collaboration with purchasers organisations in and outside Stockholm. In order to achieve maximum market impact, the City of Stockholm has formed a purchaser’s consortium (buyer group) with other Swedish cities, and the consortium is also supported by the City of Copenhagen.Technical specifications were developed and manufacturers invited to tender. The specifications set very strict optical requirements for luminaires, and the tenders are evaluated based on technical performance and their ability to provide low LCC costs. More than 40 proposals were submitted. The competition jury has evaluated the proposed solutions, from which a number were selected for testing. Testing took place in May 2002, and w inners are expected to be announced in July 2002.To our knowledge, this is the first ever attempt to apply technology procurement on luminaires for public lighting. The technical requirements are unorthodox, compared to current European practices.