Belgium is famously one of the most illuminated countries in the world, visible even from space at night. In the Brussels-Capital Region alone, Sibelga is one of the main public lighting operators, managing over 85,000 light points.

The maintenance and operational costs of the public lighting network were significant. In 2016, street lighting accounted for roughly 50% of the local authorities’ total electricity bill, with the 85,000+ poles in Brussels consuming 50 million kWh annually, equivalent to the power consumption of 200,000 families. With 85% of Belgians requesting urgent climate action and 98% of the population living in urbanized areas, the region faced immense pressure to modernize (Agoria.be).  

As the officials put it, “The switch to smart LED lighting in a smart city context can cut costs by 30 to 80% and can generate average savings of €70 million for our cities and municipalities” (Agoria.be). While the transition to LED technology is a critical first step toward reducing energy consumption, smart street lighting adds a second layer of efficiency. Together, LED luminaires and smart control transform street lighting from a static energy consumer into an actively managed urban asset. 

The Brussels street lighting operator’s primary requirement was independence. They aimed to avoid the so-called “walled garden” where cities become locked into a single vendor’s proprietary ecosystem. In such models, expanding the infrastructure, integrating new technologies or switching suppliers often becomes difficult, costly, or technically impossible over time. 

Instead, Brussels required a solution with a high degree of interoperability at both hardware and software levels. The system needed to communicate with ease between different suppliers and Sibelga’s own IT ecosystem. 

Also, Brussels’ status as one of the most urbanized areas in the world introduced a twofold technical challenge: 

1. Urban density & connectivity: Brussels’ dense infrastructure and potential signal interference meant Sibelga needed a communication technology capable of maintaining strong coverage and real-time control.

2. Complex management & precision: The street lighting operator required advanced CMS features, including intricate dimming schedules to meet ambitious energy-saving targets and a robust failure detection mechanism to optimize maintenance. 

To meet Sibelga’s requirements, the proposed solution had to demonstrate, under real operational conditions, that interoperability, responsiveness and long-term flexibility could coexist within a single smart street lighting architecture. 

Flashnet’s inteliLIGHT® solution was evaluated as a modular, standards-based platform, designed to operate across mixed environments and multiple suppliers. At its core, the solution combines TALQ-certified interoperability with carrier-grade NB-IoT communications, enabling reliable, real-time control in one of Europe’s most densely built urban areas. 

The platform supports individual lamp-level control, allowing operators to apply precise dimming profiles while maintaining operational simplicity. Through the inteliLIGHT technology, the controllers allow the configuration of advanced schedules, monitoring detailed electrical parameters and receiving real-time alerts for failures or anomalies across the network. 

The inteliLIGHT solution is TALQ‑certified at all levels, enabling seamless integration with third‑party hardware as well as with any existing utility IT systems.  This standards-based approach allows the lighting infrastructure to remain vendor-independent, protecting long-term investment and enabling gradual evolution as technologies and policies change. 

Connectivity is provided through the NB-IoT technology, selected for its strong coverage, reliability and near-real-time responsiveness. This ensures continuous communication without the complexity or maintenance overhead associated with complex infrastructures, while supporting real-time responsiveness and centralized control. 

By combining open standards, robust communications and a flexible management layer, the solution addressed both immediate operational needs and future scalability, providing Sibelga with a platform capable of supporting evolving energy, environmental and smart city objectives over the long term.