Bestwig municipality: Renewal of street lighting picks up speed
Bestwig. Fewer dark zones with greater efficiency and modern LED technology: the street lighting in the municipality of Bestwig is currently being modernised step by step. At the meeting of the community development committee, Robin Pohl, environmental protection engineer at Hochsauerlandwasser GmbH (HSW), informed the committee members about the current status.
Background: HSW is responsible for the operation and maintenance of street lighting in the municipality of Bestwig as well as in the towns of Meschede and Olsberg. Together with master electrical engineer Daniel Riekes, Robin Pohl is part of the team responsible for the further development of street lighting at HSW. Modernisation and investment cost concepts were adopted in all three municipalities in 2021. The aim is to replace all street lighting with LED by 2031. In addition, where necessary, the dark zones in the streets are to be significantly reduced by additional lights and will have virtually disappeared once the measures have been completed.
For the municipality of Bestwig, this means that almost 1,500 lighting points in 188 streets or paths will be refurbished and modernised. An investment sum of over 1.8 million euros has been set for this in 2021. After the implementation of the concept was slowed down in recent years by unresolved issues relating to the revision of the NRW Municipal Fees Act (KAG), the modernisation of street lighting is now "picking up speed", Robin Pohl reported: By the end of 2025, a good 30 per cent of the street lighting in the municipal area will have been converted to LED technology.
The locations of the masts will also be considered and, if necessary, changed or expanded in number. The aim: in addition to high cost-effectiveness and efficiency thanks to modern LED technology, the numerous dark zones are also to be significantly reduced. DIN 13201 is used as a planning aid, dividing roads into different lighting classes depending on their design and use. According to Robin Pohl, this offers a major advantage: "The street lighting can be tailored precisely to requirements." If there are traffic islands or pedestrian crossings, for example, these can be more strongly illuminated than purely residential streets without "special features". Robin Pohl: "In this way, we achieve exactly the right results without generating avoidable costs through superfluous luminaires."
The members of the municipal development committee also decided to reduce the minimum illuminance between two lighting points from the previous 1 lux to 0.4 lux, provided that this is compatible with the requirements of the road in the detailed planning. This is based on lighting class P6 of the applicable DIN standard - a considerable improvement compared to the current situation with numerous dark zones, environmental protection engineer Pohl explained.
He illustrated this with the situation in the Westfeld residential area. Here, the existing 42 light points are to be replaced with 52 modern LED light points. The refurbishment costs amount to a good 44,500 euros; the annual maintenance costs are estimated at 2,100 euros. If a minimum illumination level of 1 lux were to be maintained, 78 light points would be required - associated with refurbishment costs of a good 93,000 euros and annual maintenance costs of just under 3,200 euros. Robin Pohl: "That is neither standard-compliant nor economical."
What is particularly important is that the new KAG regulations mean that local residents no longer have to pay contributions for street lighting refurbishment measures, meaning that there are no additional costs for residents. The municipal administration assumes that, according to the new legal requirements, around 70 per cent of the costs for the renewal of street lighting will be reimbursed by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia - a considerable relief for Bestwig's municipal finances.