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AMORTIZATION OF MUNICIPAL LIGHTING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

The municipal lighting management systems of ATS Automations S.A. control over 1 million streetlights worldwide, primarily in Europe and the United States, with a rapidly increasing install base. The primary reason that more and more municipal authorities are installing these systems is to economize on resources and by extension, save money in the everyday running of their municipality.

Economizing is basically achieved via reduction in energy consumption. At present, municipalities spend large amount of money on electricity, despite the low rate charged here in Greece. In the coming years, when a significant increase in PPC invoices is anticipated, while at the same time demand for illumination is to go up, the problem will become even more exacerbated.

Indicatively, we wish to mention that currently, in Greece, a municipality with 10,000 100-Watt bulbs pays PPC around €350,000 a year. By using the municipal lighting management systems of ATS Automations S.A., it could economize on this by 30% - 50%, €105,000 – €175,000 annually, at current prices.

The systems of ATS Automations achieve the economizing of resources in the following ways:

I.Utilization of the electronic Ballast

The utilization of the electronic ballast reduces energy consumption by 15% – 20%, depending on the type of bulb. Electronic ballasts have optimum results when they are used on high pressure sodium-vapour lamps, which are the most advisable solution for the lighting of streets, squares, etc. The economizing on energy is achieved by ionization of the bulb to a higher frequency than that of the conventional ballasts and by attaining unary cosine (cosφ=1). The first characteristic ensures greater lamp radiance with lower energy, while the second gives more efficient energy absorption by the network.

The usage of the electronic ballast contributes to the increase in longevity of the lights up to 20%, due to the use of a starter oscillation at a lower voltage. The oscillation is created with precision by the electronic circuit and could have lower voltage due to the higher frequency.

A further significant feature of the electronic ballasts is that they allow the adjustment of the brightness level, and subsequently of the energy consumed up to even 50% of the nominal energy. This case is described in the next section.

II.Adjustment of the brightness level

The automatic adjustment of the bulb brightness, depending on the hour and season, makes a significant contribution to the saving of energy, without affecting the quality of the light.

To cite an example:

• A lamp that burns at 75% from midnight until sunrise consumes in total 14% less energy
• A lamp that burns at 50% from midnight until sunrise consumes in total 28% less energy.

In effect, we create lighting scenarios depending on the hour and the season so that there is always adjustment of the lighting level for the specific circumstances.

Particularly great benefits are derived in tourist areas, where lighting demands change considerably depending on the time of year.

Here we should add that due to the use of the electronic ballast we are able to achieve the same brightness from the same lamp, adjusting it to 80-85%. Even greater benefits can be drawn if a bulb of lower power is chosen, due to the lower cost of acquisition.

Activation control per lamp

In the cases of light fittings placed in a dense layout or fitted with many lamps, there is the possibility of turning off one or more lamps, depending on the time of year and hour, thus contributing to the reduction in energy consumption for several hours. For example, we mention here a park, where during the night (i.e. 1:00 – 5:00 a.m.) one out of two or three lamps can burn. Likewise in industrial zones, say after 22:00. This would bring about consumption reduction (for that time) by 33% or 66% respectively.

III.Optimization of managing supplies & maintenance

The utilization of the system constitutes economizing on money in the lighting system management, by:

• ‘Rational’ supplies through monitoring the longevity of lamps and concomitant precise assessment of suppliers.
• Optimization of management of corrective and preventive maintenance procedures, due to precise knowledge of the current status of the lighting network as well as of the keeping of the precision archive.

As the first municipality in Greece, the Municipality of Kilkis has already gone ahead with the implementation of a pilot system of energy economizing on municipal lighting. The measurements taken so far fully confirm the previously mentioned numbers.