Water Management

Energy, functional and aesthetical upgrade and smartening of the island’s street
lighting network

Public lighting is essential for road and personal safety and to promote the island’s points of interest. Modern smart street lighting systems contribute to reducing energy consumption and the respective cost, while limiting light pollution, which is both a biodiversity issue and an issue for the island residents and visitors. The project interventions aim to upgrade the island street lighting system at its entirety and to transform it into a modern smart street lighting system. The new luminaires are of high efficiency LED technology and have incorporate adaptive lighting functions, illuminating on an as required basis, while blending harmoniously with the traditional settlements of Kythnos.

Current state

Street lighting and exterior architectural lighting for public spaces, buildings and monuments has been negligently studied and usually randomly developed in Kythnos, similarly to most islands and rural areas in Greece and elsewhere. This has resulted into an energy inefficient, functionally insufficient or even dangerous, and aesthetically inadequate and light-polluting. The incumbent street lighting network in Kythnos can be categorized in 5 main types.

  1. Luminaires at the main and secondary road network which is accessible by vehicles.
  2. Luminaires that light roads of seasonal settlements either accessible or not by vehicles.
  3. Luminaires that light the alleys of Chora and Dryopida settlements which are not accessible by vehicles.
  4. Luminaires used for lighting public spaces and coastal port areas.
  5. Exterior lighting solutions of public buildings, sports areas and natural or cultural monuments.

Challenges to address

All five categories present three different kinds of shortcomings and challenges that KSI aims to address.

  • Points of installation: Street lighting luminaires have been most typically installed on the electricity distribution grid poles regardless their actual functionality and photometric result. The same applies also for those luminaires lighting the non-accessible settlements, regardless the fact that the small streets known as “kalderimia” are often less than 2 meters wide and the houses never raise above two levels. Luminaires at seasonal settlements are often installed in random locations, poorly maintained and for most of the year not being of much use since very few or no people live there besides summertime. Dark zones in between luminaires of all categories are very common due to the unequal spacing among installation points.
  • Luminaire and lamp technology: Most of the lamps are compressed fluorescent ones installed in very simple open-type metal luminaires with almost inexistent reflection and refraction potential. There are no luminaires with high-pressure Natrium and Mercury lamps, which is typical in larger islands or urban areas, resulting to moderate energy consumption. Luminaires used for lighting public spaces and coastal port areas are two other distinct types which . Lastly, when it comes to exterior lighting solutions of public spaces and buildings, sports areas and natural or cultural monuments, high-power halogen lamp projectors is the most typical option resulting to extensive lighting pollution and significant energy consumption.
  • Operation and maintenance: The lighting network is activated through either a network pulse signal or a natural light sensor with not adaptive possibilities or control of any kind. Due to the island environment but also grid instability maintenance costs are high, while any damages and failures are usually communicated to the Municipality by phone or in person.

As part of the project, it is planned to rollout an application to revamp and simplify the interaction between the Municipality and the citizens of Kythnos, aiming at the real time resolution of everyday requests, and in particular the immediate and timely resolution of problems arising in the street lighting network of the island. The platform will allow the residents of the island to actively participate in the recording of the identified failures, via an application on their cell phones and to follow in real time the process of addressing the request by the Municipality. It will also have an interactive map of the Municipality where the user will be able to use filters to locate specific points of interest, calendar of activities and events and will allow for global citizen information via the appropriate messaging method Finally, the Municipality will be able to carry out public consultations and surveys directly, simply, and accurately – either through the application or through a website.

KSI intervention methodology

KSI aims to address all the above-mentioned challenges and shortcomings by the energy, functional and operational upgrading of the island’s street lighting network at its entirety and transforming it into a modern smart street lighting infrastructure; one that will contribute to reducing energy consumption and cost, while limiting light pollution and providing solutions to make operation and maintenance of the whole system more efficient.

The new luminaires are of high efficiency LED technology and have incorporate adaptive lighting functions, illuminating on an as required basis, while blending harmoniously with the traditional settlements of Kythnos.

Street Lighting
Street Lighting

The methodology to choose suitable luminaires and the appropriate automated functions is as follows: First, the current state is documented by mapping the existing luminaires, measuring using appropriate instrumentation, and distributing carefully designed questionnaires to residents. Following consultation with lighting companies, pilot installations in selected locations are implemented, in order to draw conclusions via new measurements and feedback by the local community. Based on the above conclusion, the upgrading of the street lighting system throughout the island is being implemented in cooperation with HEDNO and Municipality personnel, replacing more than 1500 streetlights and 300 luminaries to promote points or sights of interest.

Installation of accent lighting at points of interest.

KSI objectives

The objectives of the project may be summarized to the following:

  • to replace existing luminaires with high efficiency LED technology ones along with the use of smart control systems;
  • to incorporate adaptive lighting systems with the possibility to introduce predefined patterns (based on timing, pedestrian or vehicle presence, events, weather etc.);
  • to install a SCADA infrastructure for the dynamic wireless control of the lighting systems;
  • to test different scenarios of the abovementioned technologies under different conditions and in different locations taking into account the effect of seasonality;

KSI interventions

  1. Replacement of the existing luminaires with high efficiency LED technology fixtures.

The luminaires to be installed must meet the following  requirements:

  • To provide protection against the island’s electrical voltage fluctuations (non-interconnected grid)
  • To provide resistance against the demanding weather conditions
  • To allow for individual components replacement
  • To be compatible with the aesthetics of the traditional settlements
  • To meet the resulting lighting technical specifications
  • To be compatible with the automation and control systems that react to the seasonality changes of the islands

 

  1. Installation of accent lighting at points of interest.

In cooperation with the Municipality, specific points of interest are selected and following the preparation and issuance of the appropriate technical reports, lighting fixtures are installed to

  • ensure safe and comfortable transportation
  • physical stay at location and activity in the area
  • support all the different kinds of space usage
  • harmoniously blend in with the architecture of the site, creating a visually intriguing night landscape

The end result is to appropriately cover the light source, avoiding over-illumination and balance between different lighting levels of indoor and outdoor areas.

As part of the project, it is planned to rollout an application to revamp and simplify the interaction between the Municipality and the citizens of Kythnos, aiming at the real time resolution of everyday requests, and in particular the immediate and timely resolution of problems arising in the street lighting network of the island. The platform will allow the residents of the island to actively participate in the recording of the identified failures, via an application on their cell phones and to follow in real time the process of addressing the request by the Municipality. It will also have an interactive map of the Municipality where the user will be able to use filters to locate specific points of interest, calendar of activities and events and will allow for global citizen information via the appropriate messaging method Finally, the Municipality will be able to carry out public consultations and surveys directly, simply, and accurately – either through the application or through a website.

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