Smart Békéscsaba
Smart street lights become strategic assets to save energy, lower the city’s carbon footprint and deliver more for the community
The city of Békéscsaba in south east Hungary is well known for it’s food industry, especially the Csaba sausages, which are the focus of one of Hungary’s best-known food festivals in October. The city also has strong textile and electronic production activities. While the local authorities are keen to retain and promote the city’s century-old values and traditions, they are also focused on building a truly modern city.
In 2016, the city received funding from the Hungarian Government, within the framework of the Modern Cities Program, to invest in its infrastructure and develop its full potential. As part of the program a solar park and electricity storage facility was built to increase green energy production, improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. With this smart grid, the city’s infrastructure, including the public lighting, can be powered by greener energy.
Smart Lighting
The public lighting network was also upgraded to improve safety in the city and manage the luminaires in a more intelligent manner. The new network had to meet the following criteria:
- provide the required lighting levels to improve visibility and ensure public safety for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers throughout the city;
- deliver a better quality of light to enhance busy public spaces with the actual lighting needs;
- manage all luminaires with a control system, which is still a relatively new technology for cities in Hungary at the moment;
- reduce energy consumption to generate savings and reduce the city’s environmental footprint.
As part of an on-going plan to replace old fixtures with innovative luminaires that can be adapted to the real-time lighting needs, approximately 5,200 luminaires were installed in strategic areas of the city.
A total of 2,100 existing LED luminaires were also equipped with 7-pin NEMA sockets so that all of the luminaires on the main avenues can be controlled by the Schréder EXEDRA smart lighting system and integrate the Smart City infrastructure.
Schréder EXEDRA dims the light during the night when traffic is low, further reducing energy consumption and costs.
The connected infrastructure will significantly improve operational efficiency by managing and monitoring the network to deliver a more precise outage information, reducing unnecessary disruptions and the need to dispatch maintenance staff without reason.
It will also generate energy savings of up to 45%, the equivalent of 1,531MWh per year. The city will thus avoid producing 568 tons of CO2 per year and lower its environmental footprint.
Additional savings will be generated in the future thanks to more precise data that will enable the council to adapt the lighting to real-time needs.
More value for the community
The local authorities wanted to go further in the digital transformation by integrating technology that would deliver even more services for the local community. CCTV, loudspeakers and other communication devices enhance the feeling of safety and can improve public safety response times. Hotspots can provide free WiFi to activate services in city centres and bridge the digital divide.
The council opted to install 26 SHUFFLE smart poles in areas where the community likes to gather, to deliver these additional services in a discreet and aesthetic manner.
Fitted with CCTV, WiFi and environmental sensors, they have improved livability in the city and will provide that all important data to upgrade the poles in the future with new services for citizens.
A smart street light to suit every environment
In addition to the SHUFFLE, we delivered a range of high-performing, low-energy LED luminaires to enhance the cityscape both by day and by night.
The elegant YOA lights the main avenues while TECEO luminaires, installed on high masts in critical areas, ensures safety for all. The VOLTANA was chosen to light residential areas.
The PILZEO and ZYLINDO were installed in the parks throughout the city, creating a cosy atmosphere when the night falls for people to take advantage of the calm environment.
The PANNON and KECSKEMÉT LED candelabra fittings were delivered to enhance the authentic feel of the city centre.
They have all contributed to creating a well-lit, safer, more sustainable city where people feel secure to move around at night while becoming strategic assets for Békéscsaba to deliver its smart city aspirations and a cleaner, greener future.