LED Street Lighting Application in Municipality of Tirana

Street and public area lighting is a key service provided by municipal government. The public lighting sector is playing an important role in providing convenience, enhancing safety and security, promoting economic development, creation of friendly environment, as well as increasing the aesthetic appeal of surrounding property. The energy consumption in the street lighting sector, whether in public lighting or private users, constitutes a high percentage of the total energy used. Lighting conditions in streets of city of Tirana are currently at a level, which in many cases does not satisfy the requirements set out by legislation and standards. The study is undertaken with the request of Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy with goal to identify the possibility of applying new street lighting systems in Tirana, in order to draft concrete strategies for the future of street lighting in Albania. The study was focus on the opportunities and recommendations for the development and installation of LED technologies in the street lighting of Tirana. The study presented in this paper is completely based on the detailed analysis of the current state of the street lighting system in the Municipality of Tirana by visits and measurements, full information taken by municipality, interviews with responsible people of street lights system, different simulations based on DIALux software for new technology proposed. The study has estimated a great potential electrical energy savings by replacing existing street lighting lamps retrofits with LED in municipality of Tirana, around 33%, which is 4.6 million kWh/year, effecting a reduction of 1.85 million kg CO2 emission. The findings presented in the paper provide information on energy savings opportunities, which can be readily adopted by Municipalities of Albania, in their pursuit of energy and financial savings in street lighting sector.