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Cost of Solar vs Conventional Street Lighting

Jan 02, 2020

The costs of traditional street lighting are often more than simply installing solar street lights.

Installation of traditional street lighting means having to access the electrical grid. 

For new developments and/or upgrades to unsightly above ground powerline areas, or where additional lighting is required, this means trenching and underground wiring.

This is a process that is lengthy, expensive, and creates inconvenience to surrounding neighbours, commuters and road users.

In fact, the costs associated with underground wiring, on-site transformers and electrical enclosures are often more than simply installing solar street lights.

Whether installing new solar lighting to previously poorly or unlit areas, or converting traditional street lights to solar street lighting systems, you eliminate the ongoing increasing costs of electricity.

Further, you never have the issues created by blackouts or brownouts to the power grid – you will always have light at night!

You can see the savings in this simple grid below, which is an example of a 2 kilometre stretch of road based on typical costs for ideal soil conditions {for trenching} {note that rates for trenching will be higher in locations that have difficult soil conditions}.
Regular Street Light Luma Exit 90W Integrated Solar Street Light
400W Halogen or Similar 90W Ultra High Efficiency LED {2 x 50W LED}
9,000 Lumens 10,000 Lumens
30 ? 50 Lumen / Watt 100+ Lumen / Watt
No Back Up Power Source Internal Battery {3 nights reserve power}
No Solar Array Integrated Solar Array
Requires Electricity Solar Powered
Works only when power grid is energised Works whenever dark including during power outages
Requires cabling which requires expensive trenching No Cabling Required
Additional wiring in the ground No wiring required
Wire required in Pole No wiring required
Significant resources to install Simple Install ? 2 men and cherry picker
Special Crews for safe installation and commission Safe to install ? 12 volt
Attracts insects Does not attract insects
Street lighting
02 Jan, 2020
What are the costs of solar lighting vs traditional street lighting?
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