In 2019 after the successful implementation of an intelligent street lighting management system in the municipality of Sozopol, the contractor Energy Effect EAD again contacted ADD Bulgaria for an upcoming project in the municipality of Dragoman (ESCO contract).
What were the problems with street lighting in Dragoman municipality?
- Poor lighting and areas with missing equipment;
- The mechanical clocks used to control street lighting were inaccurate and inconvenient to operate, requiring frequent adjustment of the times to turn lights on and off;
- Poor condition of the cable network, leading to frequent power outages for part of the population;
- Most of the MV switchboards were not in good condition, had not been moved outside the substation and needed repair or complete replacement;
- Difficult and slow to establish the source when a problem occurs;
- Unauthorized actions and impossibility of establishing them;
- Slow identification of the type of problems that have occurred, leading to greater damage and more cost to fix them.
What did the municipality of Dragoman need?
- Replacement of all light fixtures with new LED lights;
- Complete replacement of street lighting control panels;
- Ensuring efficient lighting management;
- Reduction of maintenance and operation costs;
- Quickly identify problems or attempts to join illegally;
- Reducing the time to identify and fix problems;
- Obtaining up-to-date data and performing automatic analysis of the operation and state of the infrastructure;
- Reduction of energy costs and CO₂ emissions.
All these requirements can be met by replacing the equipment and by implementing an intelligent street lighting management system. The solution provided by ADD Bulgaria includes the installation of 64 SLMB devices for monitoring and managing the street lighting infrastructure, installed in completely new panels.
Solution from ADD Bulgaria – intelligent management of street lighting
To solve all the challenges, ADD Bulgaria installed a controller for group management of the illuminants, which provides the possibility of setting, remote access and control of the street lighting from the software center (according to the geographical location and the preset automatic schedule).
Challenges
The implementation of the project was associated with a number of challenges due to the fact that it was a complex and multi-stage project with many subcontractors. During the commissioning of the system, a communication problem was detected in some of the remote settlements (very poor or in places with completely missing GSM coverage of the selected mobile operator).
Results
- 5% cost savings from automatic lighting control for every day of the year;
- 35% reduction in maintenance costs – quick localization and elimination of problems;
- Increasing the energy efficiency of street lighting in the municipality of Dragoman and reducing the consumption of electrical energy, through the implementation of a package of technical measures;
- Improvement of street lighting indicators in accordance with the Bulgarian standard;
- Reducing the direct costs of the Dragoman municipality, providing high-quality lighting;
- Detection of malfunctions and attempted manipulations in less than 5 minutes (unauthorized access and unregulated connection to the lighting infrastructure).
- ENSURING SAFE MOVEMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES, ENHANCING THE SAFETY OF PEDESTRIAN AT NIGHT AND CREATING A COMFORTABLE NIGHT ATMOSPHERE.
See more about the GridBit SLMS smart street lighting management solution
