Community Stadium Illumination Research Using Renewable Energy

Stadium Lighting and Illumination is a major favorite for many engineers in the power or lighting fields. What if we spice that by saying that the lighting shall be provided by renewable energy sources and not heavy fuel generators?

This sounds crazy and at the same time interesting give the fact that stadiums are well known power hungry loads, so much that each nowadays has its own in-house sub-station.

This is very true and I would be hitting headlines in no time if I proposed to light a whole stadium with renewable energy. But this is not the case as of now, my main target is community based sports arenas that sadly can only be used during the day due to power problems.

Yesterday I happened to go and watch a football team during their usual practice at YMCA-Thika in Kenya. I have never seen the game played so well by eager youths who one day wanted to be in the big leagues. It was a good evening and the session went well. Sadly to my disappointment as the sun hid behind the clouds, the session was called to and end and all strolled for their stuff and headed home.How!!! Why should the sun dictate when we should work yet it has give us immense power and energy? (Solar & Wind Energy). Suppose the talented youth could train all night? They would be 20* better. YMCA-Thika could host floodlit events and also benefit by renting out the pitch.

It is for such reasons that I have embarked on a study/research to see how Community Stadium Illumination could help increase opportunity for youths in developing countries. The study will last 2months till end of August. I will post updates and pics as the study goes on. Let me go and talk to the management of YMCA-Thika before commencing further.

Green Point Stadium: Illumination

“It is practically impossible to switch on 360 floodlights, each producing 215 000 lumens of light, without people noticing. But apart from the inevitable complaints from some local residents, there was an overwhelmingly positive response to this important development” GIBB-A multidisciplinary engineering firm in  charge of the lighting of the Green Point Stadium.
Welcome to the Green Point Stadium locally known as the Cape Town stadium. With a seating capacity of 68000 fans, it stands as a marvelous work of engineering. As you approach the stadium one thing that most people can’t help noticing is the wonderful lighting system, whether at night in the reflection of the sun in the luminaries during the day. The illumination at the Cape Town stadium has been engineered to meet all FIFA standards, but with lamps ranging from 1kW to 3kW, these presents a nasty heavy load to the transformers feeding them and it is because of this that FIFA requires floodlighting be powered by uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) in South Africa and so a rotary UPS, engineered by BKS, was installed to fulfill this function.

Illumination in Stadiums - Introduction

A stadium comes to life when its fully packed to capacity and all its luminaries are working properly. Illumination in stadiums is a very important topic when it comes to the design phase of construction. The manner in which the luminaries are going to be installed impacts the overall performance of the stadium and not to forget the game being played. A well lit stadium/Arena ensures maximum illumination and minimal glare to the fans both on the pitch as well as on the seats. The lamps should be of correct rating to avoid unwanted glare and loss of heat through radiation. To achieve this, powerful luminaries are placed on top or even mounted on special masts at a height distance to reduce heat radiating to the fans and also making sure that maximum light falls on the pitch in the stadium. Less powerful  luminaries are then installed near the pitch to provide light for live television and quality photography.
All these lamps together with those inside the stadium present a power thirsty load to the power supply source. Today’s stadiums are supplied by up to 5 transformers and dedicated substations just to reduce power outages.