In 2015, the supplier of lighting fixtures under the public order – ATEK CONSULTING OOD, contacted ADD BULGARIA, looking for a solution for an intelligent lighting control system.
What were the problems with street lighting in Roman municipality?
- Outdated and highly amortized type of lighting fixtures, in some places completely non-working;
- Poor condition of the cable network, leading to frequent power outages; Splicing of aerial cable network;
- Increased consumption leading to high costs without establishing an exact cause;
- Expensive maintenance – identification of a problem only after reporting to residents, increasing citizen dissatisfaction with a long lack of lighting;
- Slow diagnosis of problems, leading to more damage and more cost to fix them.
What did Roman municipality need?
- To ensure effective management of street lighting;
- Reduction of maintenance and operation costs;
- To speed up the problem identification process;
- Identify illegal join attempts
- Obtaining accurate data and analysis of infrastructure performance;
- Reduction of energy costs and CO₂ emissions.
By installing group controllers for each panel, the ability to set and execute automatic schedules for each area, tailored to the location of each lighting control panel, is realized. This schedule may change daily depending on the sunrise and sunset for the respective location.
Solution from ADD Bulgaria – street lighting control system
In order to solve all the challenges, ADD Bulgaria carried out a modification of the used equipment to improve the quality of services for the transmission networks (GSM and RF). Also, the configuration of the radio network settings was changed to improve the quality of the transmission environment. Thanks to the system of ADD Bulgaria, some problem areas, part of the territory of Roman municipality, were identified and localized. In order to achieve the required lighting without exceeding the energy costs, the maximum dimming value for all the luminaires was set through the installed individual controllers.
By implementing individual controllers, the possibility of setting individual dimming schedules for each light fixture is realized in accordance with the regulatory requirements and the specified lighting levels according to the tender documentation.
Challenges during the smart street lighting project
During the installation of individual and group controllers and start-up of the system, it was found that there are settlements with broken GSM and radio communication. This resulted in additional configuration of the radio network. Unsupported tree branches caused additional damage and malfunctions in the street lighting infrastructure, which the municipality of Roman had to deal with.
THE SOLUTION PROVIDED BY ADD BULGARIA includes the installation of 1,600 individual LCU controllers for LED illuminator control and the installation of 25 SLMB devices for infrastructure monitoring and management, mounted in street lighting panels, in the four settlements included in the project.
Results
- 6% savings in electricity costs from group lighting control
- 25% savings in electricity costs by implementing an individual dimming schedule for each luminaire
- Remote control of the operation mode of each street light panel and individual schedules for each LED light helped the municipality to significantly reduce transportation costs. (Before the implementation of the project, at least 4 adjustments per year to the lighting schedule were required, by adjusting the existing mechanical clocks in 25 panels in the 4 settlements).
- Less than 15 minutes of time required per day to review and troubleshoot all monitored electrical and lighting infrastructure
- ENSURING THE SAFE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE AND VEHICLES
Check out our other projects for street lights modernization.
See more about the GridBit SLMS street lighting management system.
