Representatives from the municipality of Smolyan visited the city of Ålesund, Norway, as part of the project "Rehabilitation and Modernization of the System for External Artificial Lighting of the town of Smolyan"

In the period from May 25th  to May 28th 2023, a delegation from the Municipality of Smolyan visited Ålesund, Norway, as part of joint activities with their Norwegian partner in the project, the energy company Nordplan. During the working visit, Engineer Mariana Tsekovа, Mr. Marin Zahariev – Deputy Mayors of the Municipality of Smolyan, and Engineer Ivan Hadzhihristev, Director of the Directorate of "Building, Infrastructure, Environment and Forest Management," familiarized themselves with the experience of the Norwegian company in the field of external artificial lighting and innovative measures for energy efficiency. They visited facilities in Hareid, Ulsteinvik, and Ulstein. For the Bulgarian experts, the innovative street lighting management system and the technologies used for lighting fixtures were of particular interest. They also visited a district heating plant utilizing energy from seawater, which, through a system of several heat pumps, is used for heating/cooling of several buildings.

During the working visit, the representatives of the Municipality of Smolyan introduced to their hosts the projects of the Municipality of Smolyan involving Norwegian partners, funded under the Horizon 2020 program and the EEA Financial Mechanism.

The project "Rehabilitation and Modernization of the System for External Artificial Lighting of the town of Smolyan" Grant Agreement No. BGENERGY-2.001-0034-018, within the procedure for the selection of project proposals "Rehabilitation and Modernization of Municipal Infrastructure - External Artificial Lighting Systems in Municipalities" is implemented under the "Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Security Programme" Programme, funded by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014 – 2021.