RECONSTRUCTION OF PUBLIC LIGHTING IN THE MUNICIPALITY OF BRELA.

Public lighting in Croatia is owned by municipalities and cities and frequently, due to the use of old technologies, does not meet the technical-light requirements and has high maintenance and replacement costs for worn-out light sources, as well a high electricity consumption. This paper proposes its complete reconstruction, i.e. replacement of the inadequate luminaires with high-efficiency LED lighting fixtures, on existing poles, as opposed to designing new lighting on new poles, which ensures significant savings in electricity consumption and reduction of the carbon footprint. Furthermore, municipalities can transfer the investment costs to an ESCO company. The ESCO company would then finance the modernization of public lighting at its own expense and acquire its return on investment and its earnings by financing through savings in electricity consumption during an agreed period, after which the long-term earnings from the savings would be acquired by the respective city or municipality. In addition, by applying to the tender of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, it is possible to exercise the right to non-refundable investment funds in the amount of 40% to even 80%, for the poorest municipalities and cities. As an example of a successful project carried out in the above manner, the public lighting reconstruction project of the municipality of Brela was analysed, with an already acquired return on investment and continuous long-term savings. An analysis of the project itself is given, in which simulations and calculations were performed in the Dialux program, and the energy balance of the replacement of street lighting was analysed, as well as the long-term financial and environmental contributions of the realized project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]