Glamox Luxonic lights UK’s largest onshore windfarm

The company has provided two buildings at the UK’s largest onshore windfarm, plus its visitor centre, with energy-efficient connected LED luminaires that are controlled wirelessly.

Including Whitelee Windfarm, over the past 12 months, Glamox Luxonic has provided more than 1,000 LED luminaires for 26 buildings at 20 ScottishPower onshore windfarm sites across the UK. The company is also retrofitting wirelessly connected LED lighting into the energy provider’s Glasgow headquarters, which is expected to reduce electricity consumption for lighting by around 80% compared to its previous largely fluorescent tube-based luminaires.

Whitelee’s wind turbines generate up to 539Megawatts of electricity, enough to power around 350,000 homes. Glamox Luxonic is supplying more than 200 LED luminaires, including ceiling, wall-mounted, downlight, and suspended LED luminaires, as well as emergency lighting, for Whitelee’s control centre, offices, and visitor centre. Many of the luminaires are controlled wirelessly via a tablet and have sensors embedded in them to detect motion so that they switch on when people are present and when not, dim down and switch off automatically. Also, room occupancy data, acquired by the sensors, help facility managers to better understand how their buildings are utilised – a process called ‘heat mapping’. Managers can also check on energy usage and the health of each luminaire, test emergency lighting, and run automatic reports.

As part of an ongoing refurbishment programme, around 1,000 LED luminaires – many wirelessly controlled – have been provided for four floors of ScottishPower’s headquarters building in Glasgow.

Gemma Rankine, ScottishPower’s General Services Director, said: “As we work to reduce carbon emissions and achieve Net Zero targets, we must lead by example and show how we’re making the transition to a cleaner and greener future a reality.

“That’s not just about increasing the amount of 100% green electricity we produce – it’s also about changing how we work and investing in energy-efficient technologies at our workplaces, so we become a cleaner and greener business and reduce our own carbon footprint.

“Energy-saving initiatives like this smart LED lighting project play an important role in making that happen – reducing both our energy usage and costs. This is a great example of what businesses can do as part of their own decarbonisation journey on the critical road to Net Zero.”

The Installer of the lighting at the Whitelee Windfarm buildings, HQ building, and some of the other ScottishPower windfarm sites was FES. Graham Walker, Operations Director at FES said: “It’s been a meeting of minds partnering with Glamox Luxonic to deliver these energy-efficient LED lighting schemes for our valued client ScottishPower. Decarbonisation and energy efficiency are at the heart of everything we deliver at FES, and schemes such as this further demonstrate our continued commitment to working alongside intelligent clients and partners in driving innovation.”  

“Installing connected LED lighting into buildings is the low-hanging fruit in the battle against climate change. Today, buildings are responsible for about 40 percent of global energy use, and lighting accounts for around 18% of the electricity used in the UK,” said David Hunt, Managing Director of Glamox Luxonic. “It is only fitting that the buildings that support the operations of the Whitelee Windfarm will also be highly energy efficient.”