04 January 2021, 08:26
A large EU-supported street lighting modernization project is being implemented in Chernivtsi
Modern LED lights on major highways, as well as on small streets —
thanks to financial support of the EU, Chernivtsi is able to illuminate
the city, significantly save the budget and reduce CO2 emissions.
Today, in the #AASuccessStories section there is a story about the
project on modernization of street lighting in the city of Chernivtsi.
#AASuccessStories is a column about Ukrainians, who benefit from the
Association Agreement with the EU and enjoy opportunities for
cooperation with the European Union.
In 2014, Chernivtsi joined the European Covenant of Mayors Initiative.
The participants of the initiative make a voluntary commitment to
implement the city's policy in a way to reduce CO2 emissions into the
environment by at least 20% by 2020. Such a commitment requires the
development of a specific action plan. With the support of the
Ukrainian-German international cooperation project GIZ, the “Action
Plan for Sustainable Energy Development of the City of Chernivtsi for
2015-2020” was developed. This plan was reviewed and approved by the
European Commission. Among the measures for energy saving and energy
modernization, according to the Covenant of Mayors, Chernivtsi is
implementing a project to modernize street lighting. It provides for
the introduction of innovative energy-saving technologies in the city,
the installation of street lights with LED lamps, the installation of
alternative lighting sources. Implementation of the project under the
EU program “Covenant of Mayors — Demonstration Projects” started in
2018 and completed by the end of 2020.
“Within the project it is planned to replace about 4 thousand lamps,
126 km of external power lines and 33 control cabinets for street
lighting”, — project manager Maria Porchuk said
(https://www.bukinfo.com.ua/show/news?lid=115100). As the result - a
third of all street lighting in the city will be replaced. The
alternative light sources will also be installed. 16 solar panels have
already been set up in three districts of the city. This even exceeded
the expected results, as it was planned to install only 6 such panels.
The total cost of the street lighting modernization project in
Chernivtsi is 1.6 million euros. Under the EU's “Covenant of Mayors -
Demonstration Projects” program, the EU grant covers almost 80% of the
cost, which is more than € 1.2 million. The rest - 330 thousand euros -
was allocated from the city budget. Lighting is being upgraded on those
streets where its level is below average, and these are the central
roads of the city and small streets. A monitoring system has been
developed for the new lighting within the project. The new control
cabinets will automatically switch the lights on/off and will
automatically send electricity metering data and information about
possible faults. The city authorities have already estimated that due
to the modernization of street lighting, the city will be able to save
about 5 million hryvnias every year. “What is important about this
project is that it not only brings comfort to the people of Chernivtsi…
We see how much we will save on this lighting”, — the Chernivtsi City
Council representative said.
Another important goal that the city will be able to achieve through
the implementation of the project on street lighting modernization is
CO2 emissions reduction into the environment. According to the Covenant
of Mayors, it was expected to cut the emissions at least by 20% till
2020. In Chernivtsi, it was estimated that carbon dioxide emissions
were reduced by 21.3% by 2020.