Saint-Denis’s responsible lighting programme
Responsible lighting to enhance safety and efficiency while protecting the island’s endemic seabird
A pearl of the Indian Ocean, Réunion Island is renowned for its unique volcanic landscapes and rich biodiversity. While these features attract visitors, they also entail responsibilities.
When night falls, public lighting plays an essential role in enabling people to move around safely all while maximising energy efficiency and respecting local biodiversity. In 2019, the city of Saint-Denis launched a programme to renovate its public lighting network, which is due for completion in 2027. This initiative is part of a wider strategy to save energy and reduce the city’s carbon footprint.
A lighting programme with purpose
The public lighting network upgrade has several objectives:
- deliver the photometric performance required by existing standards and recommendations to ensure safety for night-time travel;
- adapt lighting levels and operating regimes to the specific requirements of local biodiversity;
- replace existing luminaires with traditional discharge lamps with high-performance LED luminaires – the new fixtures should be at least 50% more energy efficient than the ones they are replacing (measured in lumens per watt consumed).
Together with our local partner, Testoni Réunion, we worked with the city’s technical services, to help complete this upgrade in line with the above objectives.
A strategic boulevard, fully equipped with LED lighting
Boulevard Sud, a major east-west thoroughfare in Saint-Denis, is now fully lit by CITEA NG2 LED luminaires. These luminaires deliver a warm white light (3,000K), which was chosen for its optimal visual comfort for pedestrians and drivers, particularly in urban areas.
Currently, over 3,500 lights in Saint-Denis are remotely controlled via our Schréder EXEDRA IoT platform. It enables the local authorities to:
- perform dynamic lighting management in real time;
- adjust lighting levels according to needs or events;
- significantly reduce maintenance costs.
Responsible lighting to protect the Barau’s petrel
In April and May each year, the city adjusts its lighting policy to protect this seabird, which is endemic to Réunion Island and classified as endangered. During this sensitive period, the young birds leave their nests and fly towards the ocean for the first time. Disoriented by old, dazzling light sources, a significant number of birds crash to the ground.
To mitigate this issue, the city of Saint-Denis, in collaboration with SEOR (Société d’Etudes Ornithologiques de La Réunion), reduces the intensity of the lighting to 10% in affected areas during this period. The Schréder EXEDRA platform enables each luminaire to be individually controlled, ensuring lighting is only provided when and where it is truly necessary.
A sustainable vision for public lighting
Thanks to the new LED luminaires and the Schréder EXEDRA lighting platform, Saint-Denis is demonstrating its commitment to environmental protection while ensuring the safety of people at night.
We are proud to have supported Saint-Denis in transitioning to sustainable, eco-friendly public lighting, proving that urbanisation, technological innovation, user safety and biodiversity conservation can coexist successfully while delivering significant energy savings.