The Municipality of Smolyan is situated in a mountainous region in South Bulgaria on 1000m above sea level, in the heart of the Rhodope Mountains, near on the Greek-Bulgarian border. Smolyan is 250km away from the capital Sofia and 100km from the second largest city in the country – Plovdiv. The cross-border checkpoint with Greece (Zlatograd-Thermes) is situated only 55km from Smolyan. The opening of another point in the near future – Elidge border checkpoint, only 30km away from Smolyan, is on the way, which will be the fastest
link with Xanthi and the Northern Aegean coast.
Within +CityxChange Project Smolyan has identified three Demonstration Areas (DAs) for the replication of the Lighthouse Cities’ pilot projects. The municipality is looking into the possibilities to apply specific energy management schemes in public buildings to balance the prosuming of PV and solar thermal energy as well as balancing the production of hot water to reduce the energy demands of its public swimming pool.
DA1: Old city centre – The sports Hall; The city swimming pool; Training stadium; Multifunctional training playgrounds
DA2: New city centre – The planetarium; The municipality building; The regional museum; The regional library; The art gallery; The city theatre; The secondary school
DA3: Raikovo replication site – The sports stadium; The sports and service support building; The public kindergarten