T

he Surakarta administration plans to replace the current street lighting system (PJU) with a street smart lighting system (PJUP) as part of an effort to conserve energy by up to 70 percent.

The application of the PJUP is part of a collaboration between Surakarta municipality and the Energy and Mineral Resources Research and Development Agency.

The application of the PJUP at 11,240 street lighting points in Surakarta is expected to be able to conserve electricity bills for the city'€™s street lighting system. Surakarta, popularly known as Solo, sets aside Rp 24 billion (US$2.1 million) for street lighting annually.

This year, the administration must pay Rp 28.5 billion for street lighting. By applying the PJUP system, the municipality can save up to Rp 20 billion annually.

Surakarta Sanitation and Park Agency head Hasta Gunawan said for the initial stage, his office was calculating costs to procure the PJUP along the Jl. Slamet Riyadi main thoroughfare.

The PJUP procurement program will coincide with the metering installation that is currently taking place at 4,000 lamp points.

'€œWe'€™ve targeted all street lamps to be replaced with street smart lighting by 2015,'€ said Hasta.

The idea of applying the PJUP came up in July this year following the rise in basic power tariffs on
Jan. 1 and April 1 that could see the administration placed in debt to state power firm PT PLN due to the absence of reserve budget funds for extra tariffs.

In the application of the PJUP, high-power street lamps will be replaced with low-power lamps equipped with a device that allows for automatic power reduction.

Based on observations and surveys conducted by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the system could save the city up to 4 megawatts of power daily.

The administration also claims that the PJUP will make it easier for workers to monitor the condition of street lamps in real time and during faults. The system also allows lamps to dim automatically when roads are not busy and has been applied in Rome, Milan and Oslo.

Surakarta Mayor FX Hadi Rudyatmo, or Rudy, said Surakarta would be a pilot project for the application of the street smart lighting system. If considered successful, it will also be applied in other cities. The system is also believed to be able to anticipate the widespread theft of electricity in the city.

'€œThe system will be prioritized on major thoroughfares,'€ said Rudy.

The Surakarta administration had earlier planned to replace street lamps with the solar spotlight system, but the idea was ditched as it was considered less viable given some Rp 30 billion operating costs.