Smolyan municipality completes the street lighting modernization project in the city

A final press conference was held today at the Smolyan Municipality administration building for the project "Rehabilitation and Modernization of the System for External Artificial Lighting of the town of Smolyan".

The project manager, Engineer Mariana Tsekovа, presented the completed activities and achieved results, which are visible to all residents and visitors of the city. The installation of 3044 new lighting fixtures has significantly improved illumination during the dark hours of the day, and there is no longer a need for electricity regulation, as the new LED lamps not only provide better lighting but also contribute to energy and cost savings.

Engineer Tsekovа expressed satisfaction with the collaboration with our partners from the Kingdom of Norway – the energy company Nordplan, who have been our partners not for the first time, as well as with the Ministry of Energy. Despite all economic, political, and administrative challenges, we managed to overcome them, and the effect is evident. We have realized a project, initially planned only for changing the luminaires, but after programme approval, we succeeded in replacing the entire lighting system. We also managed to ensure additional funds of 86,844 BGN due to inflationary processes and an extension until December 1st 2023, to successfully complete the activities and report them.

Engineer Tsekovа also thanked the main activity executor of the street lighting modernization – "UNION FILKAB ENGINEERING" Association, whose representative, Engineer Stoyan Kovachev, was present at the press conference. "We hope that with all the energy savings we achieve, we can afford to completely replace the lighting fixtures on the remaining streets in the city, as well as in the villages that were not eligible and included in the project".

Engineer Stoyan Kovachev also thanked the municipality for their assistance in project implementation and noted that when entire lighting fixtures are replaced, the warranty period is extended to 5 years, while it is 2 years when only the bulbs are replaced. The proven savings at the moment are about 40 watts per fixture, regardless of its power. It is as if we have replaced 6000 bulbs. Another important part of the project is the monitoring and management system, which increases control efficiency and response to emergencies. It visualizes where breakdowns are and whether there are unauthorized activations.

Engineer Mariana Tsekovа confirmed that the system is already operational, and there was an emergency last week that was resolved promptly thanks to the system.

Engineer Tsekovа thanked the project team, the employees responsible for street lighting, and all the employees of the municipal administration for the successful implementation of the project – “When we work together as a team, things happen”.

The project is executed under the "Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Energy Security Programme", funded by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area 2014 – 2021, with the program operator – the Ministry of Energy. It is part of the procedure for selecting project proposals "Rehabilitation and Modernization of Municipal Infrastructure – External Artificial Lighting Systems in Municipalities."