Odesa becomes smart and saves millions on street lighting

Odesa is one of Ukraine’s largest cities, featuring a developed industrial infrastructure, dense urban development, and extensive street lighting.

The city stretches along the Black Sea coast, with districts connected by long vehicular arteries that demand substantial street lighting activity.

Transition to Smart city

Since 2014, the municipal enterprise for outdoor lighting networks, Odesmisksvitlo, in cooperation with manufacturer TeleTec LLC, has been actively modernizing street lighting infrastructure. This involves replacing outdated sodium, mercury, and metal-halide lamps with advanced smart LED luminaires under the Jooby brand.

TeleTec’s modern luminaires significantly reduce the city’s energy consumption compared to older models. Additionally, maintenance costs have decreased dramatically, as the LED fixtures offer a guaranteed lifespan of over 100,000 hours.

In 2020, Odesmisksvitlo’s leadership decided to completely overhaul the city’s outdated automated outdoor lighting control system. The initiative was driven by the need for modern, forward-looking technical solutions to reduce municipal electricity expenditure and efficiently light a city of one million residents.

Director Oleksandr Prokopets set an ambitious, innovative goal: to develop a modern automated outdoor lighting management system. The technical specifications were drafted by the Production Laboratory of Odesmisksvitlo. Following these requirements, TeleTec’s team, led by laboratory head Dmytro Kovalov, began system development. A dedicated department was established within TeleTec’s design bureau to carry out this project.

Key technical requirements included:

1. A flexible architecture adaptable to advances in information and electrical engineering.
2. User-friendly operation for system operators.
3. Integration with various Automated Commercial Metering Systems (ASCUE).
4. Data collection and storage of electrical network status and energy consumption for cost-optimization analytics.

Product Development and Pilot Testing

• The first TeleTec product was the Jooby Cabinet Controller, capable of managing at least 21 cabinet lines while collecting data on operation and network status.

• Next, an interface converter was developed to enable integration with ASCUE systems used by operators like DTEK Odesa Electricity Networks and Ukrenergo.

• These components were assembled into a complete device named the “Outdoor Lighting Control Cabinet Module”, designed for installation in standard street-lighting cabinets.

• A pilot project was launched with ten prototype modules co-developed by TeleTec and Odesmisksvitlo.

• Six months of testing confirmed that the system met all technical requirements under the guidance of engineers from both companies.

• Since 2020, Odesmisksvitlo has installed over 350 control modules, now managing tens of thousands of streetlights across the city.

System Components: The Jooby Cabinet Controller Includes

• A hardware and software complex for monitoring and controlling electrical networks.
• Dispatcher center equipment.
• Control cabinet modules for street-lighting systems.
• Electricity meters used for billing based on street lighting consumption.

System Benefits & Principles of Operation

1. Simple and cost-effective deployment

Modules install into existing lighting cabinets without dismantling equipment—dramatically reducing implementation costs.

2. Autonomous, reliable operation

Low-power devices operate independently, constantly transmitting status data. They can control lighting even during full power outages, which is crucial in wartime.

3. Flexible lighting control

The system enables both individual and group control of fixtures via external controllers or embedded boards—without removing them from poles. With astro-calendar programming, brightness adjusts dynamically according to the schedule, improving energy efficiency.

4. Balance of safety and savings

Lighting can be remotely managed per fixture or by line. Built-in motion and light sensors allow adaptive operation and coordinated control across neighboring fixtures along a single line.

5. Self-diagnostics and fault prediction

The system automatically monitors each fixture and the entire network, identifying faults swiftly without wasting time, resources, or requiring on-site specialists.

6. Integration and scalability

The system easily integrates with existing electrical infrastructure and adapts to a range of conditions and scales.

7. Cybersecurity & anti-tampering measures

Precise energy accounting enables the detection of illegal network connections. With multi-level protection and constant surveillance by Odesmisksvitlo specialists, the system is extremely resistant to hacking attempts.

How the System Saves Energy

The control module can transmit energy consumption data to Automated Commercial Metering Systems (ASCUE) operated by distribution system operators and energy providers. By analyzing daily consumption patterns, the system can automatically select the most advantageous tariff group for supplier billing—resulting in cost savings both for the enterprise and energy providers.