E.ON spends HUF 164 mln on replacing public lighting in downtown Pécs
2010.03.03
E.ON has contributed to the success of the European Capital of Culture year through the provision of new public lighting in downtown Pécs. The reconstruction project, which took nearly six months to complete, was carried out by a local contractor on time and within the planned budget.
On June 12, 2009, at a meeting between Dr Zsolt Páva, Mayor of Pécs and Lajos Gelencsér, managing director of E.ON Dél-dunántúli Áramhálózati Zrt, the latter announced that E.ON would contribute to the Pécs 2010 European Capital of Culture event series by undertaking to modernize the public lighting system in the city center. The company was about to do so in close cooperation with, and taking into account the opinion of, the Pécs 2010 Management Center especially when the choice of lamps is concerned. E.ON offered the investment, worth HUF 164 mln, as a non-refundable subsidy to the city of Pécs.
“As the leading energy supplier in Hungary, we wanted to do our part so that Pécs would be able to receive visitors during this festive year in a proper manner. We offered to install a modern and energy-efficient public lighting system that would also be aesthetically pleasing and would fit well with the historical surroundings” – Lajos Gelencsér said of the investment.
Mayor Zsolt Páva expressed his delight at the prospect of renovating public lighting in downtown Pécs. He also stressed that city management was looking for a way to do the same in other parts of the city that are still waiting to be modernized.
“A modern and reliable public lighting system is important not just for aesthetic reasons, but also for traffic and safety considerations. Our aim is to install such a system in all districts of Pécs,” the mayor said.
The last time a modernization project of similar magnitude was carried out in the city was in 2001. Pécs-based WATT-ETA Kft was commissioned to plan and implement the project after it passed the exacting quality requirements of E.ON. Reconstruction will take place in close coordination with other projects of the European Capital of Culture year, such as the one for reviving public areas and parks or the reconstruction of the Street of Museums.
During reconstruction of the suspended overhead network, 170 lamps were replaced, and the old network was replaced with a so-called middle conductor network on a 4.5 km section. As a result, the old wall-mounted cables can be removed from the facades during subsequent renovations. A further 277 lamps were replaced in the downtown area, and other projects were also carried out within the framework of the Reviving Public Spaces and Parks program.
The modernization program included new public lighting for the part of Móricz Zsigmond tér in front of the school: the lighting fixtures covered in kambala wood will match the color of nearby benches and other furniture, and will provide extra light to the renovated fountain. Two streets, Irgalmasok utcája and Hunyadi utca, have also received new lighting fixtures. Perczel utca has been completed, three new pedestrian crossings have been created in Hunyadi utca, and new wall lamps have been installed on the inner section of Megye utca.
In Papnövelde utca, new ornamental public lighting more in line with the surroundings was installed in the section leading up to the building of the Gallery of Modern Hungarian Art, using Eger lamps on Óbuda-type candelabra. E.ON has provided support for the new public lighting network in Szepessy Ignác utca by paying for the equipment installed.
During reconstruction, the installed electrical power of the system was reduced overall. As a result, the new network will cost less to operate than the old one, and the city of Pécs will save an estimated HUF 4 million on public lighting annually.
Company history
E.ON Hungária Zrt is Hungary’s leading energy company. Its electricity distribution affiliates provide customers with power in the Transdanubian region and Eastern Hungary, and it also has gas service providers operating in the Transdanubian region. The E.ON Hungária Group has 5,000 employees and more than three million customers. The Group supplies gas to more than 600,000 customers in six counties and electricity to 2.5 million customers in 12 counties.
In order to improve the security of energy supply, E.ON spent HUF 87 bln in Hungary in 2009 on upgrades to its gas and electricity distribution networks, on expanding its natural gas storage capacity, and on building new power plants. The company also spent a further HUF 20 bln on maintenance of its gas and electricity distribution networks.
E.ON Dél-dunántúli Áramhálózati Zrt’s main activity is electricity distribution. The company supplies electricity to over 700,000 homes and institutions in an 18,229 square kilometer area ranging from Hungary's southern border to Lake Balaton and from the Danube to the country's western border. The company's high, medium, and low voltage overhead transmission lines and its cable network reach 25,052 kilometers in length.
The company's main responsibilities include system operation, network development and maintenance, regional customer relations management, as well as metering tasks such as meter reading and monitoring.
Contact:
E.ON Hungária Zrt, Communications Department
Ivett Varga
E-mail: ivett.varga@eon-hungaria.com