HEP ESCO, a member of Croatia’s national power company HEP Group, is carrying out 30.8 million Croatian kunas (around 4 million euros) worth of modernisation of public lighting in the city of Osijek. The replacement of 11,086 luminaries with modern lamps with LED light sources will contribute to the protection of the environment by reducing CO2 emissions and light pollution.
After the reconstruction, electricity consumption for public lighting will be reduced by 7.5 million kilowatt-hours a year, which will also enable the return on the investment within eight years. The project is implemented on the basis of the agreement on the implementation of the energy efficiency project on the public lighting of the City of Osijek, concluded by the municipality and HEP ESCO at the end of March 2020.
The lighting will be reconstructed within 300 days and the overall project will include the design, financing, reconstruction and modernisation of the public lighting, as well as the elimination of faults or failures over a period of eight years. Additionally, a system for monitoring the management, regulation, measurement and verification of the savings will be implemented, enabling both remote control and monitoring.
“With this project, HEP confirmed itself as the leader of Croatia’s low-carbon energy transition, which is based on renewable energy sources and energy efficiency in its production and consumption, as well as with its customers,” said HEP’s CEO Frane Barbarić, recalling that Osijek is an example of the intensive implementation of HEP’s renewable development, as there are also eight ELEN electric vehicle charging stations in the city and five solar power plants on the rooftops of office buildings.
Furthermore, at the end of the heating season, a project to replace and modernise the hot water pipeline will be started, co-financed by European Union funds.
“I would like to emphasise that in the current crisis circumstances it is extremely important to continue with the realisation of investments in the energy sector, with the aim of development and stability of the Croatian economy, ” concluded Mr Barbarić.