The small municipality of Sumacàrcer (Valencia) has embarked on a pioneering “smart street lighting” project under the umbrella of SMART STREET LIGHTING — a public-innovation procurement initiative designed to transform its conventional street lighting network into an intelligent, multifunctional, and energy-efficient system. The process, supported by Tecnalia and financed by Agència Valenciana de la Innovació (AVI), aims to integrate services such as public WiFi, EV charging points and self-sufficient energy generation for night-time use.
A market consultation is open for companies to submit their innovative proposals before 15 December 2025, laying the groundwork for a future tender. Project details in Spanish can be found here.
Background: Why Sumacàrcer and the Region of La Ribera
The initiative is part of a broader regional strategy by Consorci de la Ribera to drive the adoption of smart, sustainable infrastructure across the comarca. SMART STREET LIGHTING was identified as a key early-demand need within the “La Ribera ZEROCO2 – Mapa de Demanda Temprana.”
An energy audit of the existing lighting network in Sumacàrcer, originally conducted in 2020 and updated recently, revealed a mixed inventory: although many street lamps had already been replaced with LED luminaires, not all were dimmable or compatible with advanced control systems. This underscores the need for a full upgrade toward a “smart” lighting network.
What the Smart System Should Deliver: Technical Ambitions
According to the needs-assessment report prepared by Tecnalia, the envisioned smart lighting system for Sumacàrcer should deliver:
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High-efficiency illumination: replacing or upgrading existing infrastructure to LED-based luminaires with advanced regulation capabilities.
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Energy self-sufficiency: through integration of on-site renewable energy generation, reducing dependence on the general electricity grid.
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Multifunctionality: enabling the network to support additional urban services — e.g., WiFi access, electric vehicle (EV) charging, environmental and presence sensors, and possibly smart-city applications (data gathering, connectivity).
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Smart control & maintenance: including adaptive lighting (e.g., presence detection to dim/brighten lights), automated fault detection and predictive maintenance, and potentially environmental or noise sensors to feed data for broader urban-management systems.
Procurement Strategy: Public Innovation via CPI
Rather than a traditional procurement of off-the-shelf products, the municipality is using a Compra Pública de Innovación (CPI) process. This allows public authorities to specify functional requirements and invite suppliers to propose new or yet-to-market solutions tailored to the local context.
As part of the CPI, a preliminary market consultation (open until 15 December 2025) invites manufacturers, integrators, and technology providers to present proposals. The responsible contracting authority is the Consorci de la Ribera. For reference, the public contract for technical assistance to manage this process (i.e., by Técnico/Legal/Consultancy support via Tecnalia) was valued at up to €50,000 (including VAT).
Within Spain, such initiatives gain momentum amid national and regional efforts to modernize public lighting: for instance, the central Government recently approved substantial financing rounds for municipal lighting upgrades to deploy energy-efficient and smart-control luminaires.
For rural or small municipalities like Sumacàrcer, CPI-enabled smart-lighting projects offer a viable path to leapfrog upgrading legacy infrastructure toward a multifunctional, sustainable urban backbone without needing to reinvent procurement from scratch.
