Solar energy as a new energy source. It is clean, efficient and inexhaustible. In the reality of urban construction, in order to achieve carbon neutrality, governments have made the use of solar energy resources an important part of national sustainable development strategies. Facing photovoltaic power generation has the advantages of safety, reliability, no noise, no pollution, low failure rate and easy maintenance.
How can you find the best way to cut energy costs and achieve “zero emissions” for your city? One of the most effective ways is to use the sun to generate electricity. Solar streetlights are used as the primary lighting system for urban lighting projects. Building sustainable communities with outdoor solar streetlights. Solar street lights not only provide high-efficiency LED lights. It can also be connected to the Internet of Things, providing monitored video, wireless Internet access, remote control and public address.
Solar power is, well, it’s free!
Let’s take an 80W conventional street light for example, using 12 hours of electricity in one night: 80WX12hr = 960Wh, almost 1 kWh. Traditional solar streetlights get their electricity from the grid, which can be costly over time. How much does it cost? In the US, for example, $0.15/kWh, which is about $0.144/night for an 80 watt streetlight.
So, let’s say you have 160 lights on a 5 km road. This is not uncommon. So, let’s do the math. The energy bill is $690 per month. Over a ten year period, just 160 lights equals $82,800.
And that’s just for a 5 km road. Imagine how many roads there are in the city. But with solar street lights, you don’t have any energy costs. Using the energy provided by the inexhaustible sun to power the streetlights means you have zero monthly energy usage costs.
The second way solar street lights save you money is the ease of installation. As mentioned earlier, each solar light is a self-contained system, so this means you can skip the cost of trenching, cabling and labor altogether when installing your street lights. All that is needed is to make sure the light posts are securely mounted.
Digging trenches can be very expensive. Depending on the proximity of the project site, the condition of the soil and other factors, prices can vary by linear foot. You will need to rent equipment and hire a professional to perform the labor. Then there is the cost of backfilling.
The average price percentage for a solar lighting project, from the initial quote to the first night of operation, is usually 20-30% savings over traditional street lighting, and in some projects can be as high as 40%, depending on the needs of the project.
In addition, good quality solar paths tend to last at least 8-10 years or more with very little maintenance, and properly designed solar lights have about 3-5 days of autonomy, and the lights work as usual even on cloudy days. Even in the case of natural or man-made disasters, such as earthquakes and fires that destroy the power grid, they can still provide stable lighting.
It is well known that solar street lights use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels, which contributes greatly to the sustainability of the city. Installing solar street lights also avoids damage to the environment because there is no need to excavate power lines. It brings long-term benefits to the city.