MedSkyTour – Interreg Euro-MED – Co-funded by the European Union
Good practice Greece · Ionian Islands Partner: RWG DarkSky International protected area

Aenos International DarkSky Park, Kefalonia

Greece’s smallest national park, on Kefalonia’s highest mountain, removed its only major light source – a floodlit transmission site – and now offers public stargazing programmes as an International DarkSky Park.

95%

energy saved at the transmission site

−80%

total light intensity

2000 K

amber LEDs, full cut-off, 0° tilt

~5 lx

lighting level designed and simulated before purchase

The challenge

A 0.6 ha television and telephony transmission site inside the park was floodlit all night with 400 W metal-halide lamps (above 5000 K) aimed at a high angle – the only light source visible on satellite images of the park.

What they did

The floodlights were replaced with a carefully designed, dark-sky-compliant installation.

  • Full cut-off asymmetric LED luminaires (Philips ClearWay gen2, 17.5 W, 1450 lm, 2000 K) mounted at 0° – no upward light
  • Lighting simulated in RELUX software: 4.3–4.6 lx with good uniformity, within EN 12464-2
  • Twilight sensors so lights operate only during darkness
  • Lighting improvements at beach sites used by nesting sea turtles
  • Public night-sky programmes with telescopes and green lasers

Results

No upward light, no glare for night workers and no light spilling outside the site. Good sky-quality (SQM) readings can now be recorded close to the facility. The retrofit was a requirement for the International DarkSky Park designation.

The partner sheet gives 2001 as the implementation year – please confirm the date with RWG / DarkSky Greece before publishing.

Lessons learned

  1. 1Amber (2000 K) LEDs work well despite scepticism about colour quality.
  2. 2Design and simulate light levels before choosing luminaires.
  3. 3Mount full cut-off luminaires flat (0°) so no light goes up.

Can you do it too?

The luminaires are an ideal replacement for floodlights mounted on buildings – in parks, at technical sites and in rural areas.

  • A clear lighting design based on real needs
  • Dark-sky guidelines as the reference (DarkSky International park guidelines)
  • Sky-quality and lux measurements before and after

Why it matters for astrotourism

The retrofit made the International DarkSky Park designation possible; the park now runs public programmes where visitors observe nebulae, clusters and constellations.

Photos

[Photo 1 – to be provided by RWG]
[Photo 2 – to be provided by RWG]
[Photo 3 – to be provided by RWG]

Find out more

Contact

DarkSky Greece (for the Region of Western Greece)

Andreas Papalambrou

[contact email]

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