Solar lighting units installed at 100 suburban bus stops around Prefecture of Thessaloniki have given light to areas that were literally in the dark. An initiative of the Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organisation (O.A.S.Th.), the project has illuminated isolated locations as far as 25 kilometres outside of the northern port city.

The pilot programme was essentially conceived as an easily implemented and cost-efficient way of lighting outer-suburban bus stops, explained vice-president Christos Stefanidis to GreeceNow. Up until this year, residents commuting during evening hours in towns such as Sindos (in the city’s industrial area to the east) and Hortiatis (located at the foot of the homonymous mountain to the west) were forced to wait for buses in utter darkness.

“Now,” says Stefanidis, “once they arrive at the bus stop they press a button, installed at child’s height, which lights the area for about five minutes. It then switches off. If their bus hasn’t arrived yet, they can just press the button again, and so on.”

Simple and economic
The programme uses technology that exploits the fact that Thessaloniki enjoys 70% of sunlight everyday throughout the year. Based on a European model, the unit is 100% solar powered, which means, free energy from a renewable source. The self-contained system is able to store enough light to operate at night and simply recharge itself during daylight hours.

Installation is easy, with no external wiring or trenching required, and the light switch can be set to turn on for a specified amount of time. For residential areas like the ones in question, where bus stops were never connected to a traditional hardwire lighting system, the technology provides an ideal solution.

Apart from the positive economics, commuter safety and security was always a thorny issue in these low-lit areas. Understandably, Community representatives expressed many thanks to the transport organisation’s initiative for providing a much-needed service.

Undeterred despite snags
But like most devices left unsecured in the dark, five of the 100 units have already suffered from vandalism. “They removed the switch and even the solar panel,” said Stefanidis. Each units cost almost 300 euro, but a charge may well be implemented to cover vandalism and other damage, as well as general maintenance of the units.

The pilot project was initiated over a year ago and, now that is has been successfully completed, plans to expand to areas as far as Lagadas are underway, but EU funding opportunities will determine how soon this will materialise.

While in this case, cost-efficiency and ease of installation and maintenance were the project’s practical priorities, the very essence of renewable energy technology is about being environmentally friendly. Greece is committed to the global effort of formulating policies to implement the Kyoto Protocol , that is, to generate 20% of the nation’s electricity from renewable sources by 2010.