By 2026, there will likely be 359 million streetlights installed worldwide. Just consider how much electricity will be used annually by such a big number of street lights. Much more is needed to fulfill the rising demand for electricity consumption due to the trend of growing fossil fuel depletion. Thankfully, people have long been aware of this issue and have begun to use renewable energy sources like solar and wind power years ago. As a result, tremendous progress has been achieved.
Compared to wind energy, solar energy is more accessible, eco-friendly, and non-depletable as a kind of renewable energy. The use of solar electricity for street lighting is a common example; each light is an independent, off-grid solar system.
How do solar street lights function?
A solar charge controller directs solar panels to collect sunlight throughout the day and convert it into energy. Solar panels will be used to recharge the storage battery. The storage battery is used at night to power the LED light source. A DC controller can stop overcharging or undercharging from harming the storage battery.
The solar panel, which is a photovoltaic (PV) module created utilizing the PV effects principle, functions as a photocell throughout the day to capture solar energy and transform it into electrical output that is then stored in the battery by the MPPT or PWM smart controller. The battery charges to the LED lighting fixture when the nighttime illumination drops after the smart controller detects a certain voltage value. Lighting up the light During the day, this procedure is turned around.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Solar Street Lighting
Like everything else, using solar street lights has both benefits and drawbacks, and it's important to be aware of both.
Advantages
Solar lights often have a variety of advantages, such as being simple to install and not requiring grid power. You should nevertheless consider if these benefits are compelling enough to replace conventional street lighting with solar-powered ones.
1. Eco-friendly and energy-efficient
Global warming is unquestionably being caused by carbon footprint. Green energy use is being more recognized as a way to lessen carbon impact. To safeguard our planet, people all across the globe are working hard to promote ecologically friendly green energy. We only know that non-renewable energy sources like coal, natural gas, oil, and others might eventually run out of supply. Solar street lights are totally powered by solar energy and don't need any gasoline. Solar energy is the best choice for green lighting since it is infinite and unrenewable.
2. Reasonably priced
In terms of both initial investment and ongoing operation and maintenance expenses, solar street lighting is a superior choice. As solar lights are fueled by renewable energy, you won't need to pay for electricity each month. As the lights are wireless and not tied to a power grid, there are no continuing expenses associated with their installation, including trench and cable costs.
3. Reduced cost of maintenance
You won't be charged for electricity since solar energy powers each solar street light. The solar charge controller controls the light intensity, so there is no need to replace the single solar street light. This results in little maintenance. Also, once the installation is complete, no further manual work is required, saving you money on maintenance expenses. Furthermore, despite bad weather or power outages, solar-led street lights will remain on all through the night.
4. Efficient Installation, no power facilities
Projects involving commercial power illumination often call for cable work, excavation, cable pipe laying, cable threading within pipes, and ditch trash removal. These procedures all demand a lot of effort and tools. In addition, the switchboard, distribution cabinet, and transformer are all pricey.
Nevertheless, because each solar lighting system is different, no electrical connection is necessary when installing solar street lights. Cable laying, trenching, and other related operations are thus free of charge. Just a sturdy foundation and a pit for a battery are required for the preliminary work. The installation procedure is generally quite basic and straightforward.
5. No theft of cables or high cable prices
In distant areas, cable theft is a prevalent problem, and building cables and transporting the necessary supplies may be costly.
The issues with conventional lighting are eliminated with a solar lighting system. As each unit will be autonomous and devoid of any cable connections, there won't be any cables to steal. No other component of the system will be impacted by thefts relating to the solar system.
6. Reliable and Secure
Traditional streetlights may have concealed safety hazards because of deteriorating components, bad construction, and power supply issues; solar-led streetlights do not require AC power and as a result do not have these drawbacks. The solar-powered LED street lights will be able to provide enough power to run for at least 25 years.
Disadvantages
The solar PV sector has recently seen growth, and solar LED street lights are now often employed for both residential and commercial lighting applications. The use of solar-powered street lighting is hampered by a number of flaws, however.
1. High starting input expenses
A fundamental flaw is that installing solar street lights requires a high initial input cost. As compared to conventional street lights, solar power street lights demand a bigger initial investment. The total cost to install solar power street lights is three times as much as installing conventional street lights. This is the main deterrent to us purchasing solar street lighting.
In reality, the actual investment in solar LED street lights is less expensive when we take into account the power bill, maintenance, and operational expenses that will be incurred in the long term.
2. The rechargeable battery's lifespan
The typical lead-acid battery often takes more than a year or even half a year to fully charge. When charging efficiency drops by 50%, it will undoubtedly affect the nighttime lighting situation, particularly on days when it continues to rain. For your solar street light installation, you must choose a high-quality LiFePO4 battery with a lengthy life cycle.
3.Danger of theft
Having said that, the solar street light features a valuable storage battery and solar panel that are appealing to burglars. Also, since the solar-powered street lights are not connected to the grid, thieves are not in danger of dying. Hence, there is a higher danger of theft than with conventional street lighting systems.
4. Snowy or sand-dusted weather decreases the effectiveness of solar panels.
Extreme weather may affect the performance of solar panels, particularly when dust and snow fully cover the horizontal solar panels and reduce their efficiency. The solar panel is often installed tilted to allow rainfall to remove the dust. Even so, cleaning the solar panels on a regular basis is advised to increase their effectiveness and lengthen the lifespan of the solar street light system.
5. Battery replacement
Lead-acid, gel, and lithium batteries are the three kinds of batteries that are most often used in solar street lighting. The improved Lithium-Ion battery has higher durability than the previous two varieties. Despite this, any rechargeable batteries would eventually deplete and need to be replaced many times before the lifespan of solar street lighting was reached.
6. Geography and meteorological factors have an impact on performance
As solar energy is derived from the sun, solar radiation varies geographically, therefore the condition of illumination of solar street lights may be influenced by the weather.
High sun radiation areas are ideal for solar street lights, however in other locations where it is often gloomy or snowy throughout the winter, solar street lights would not function as intended, and their brightness would even fall below the required level for safe driving.
Conclusion
You would have gained a thorough grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of solar street lighting from this essay. It is evident that the advantages might outweigh the drawbacks. As battery technology advances, it is anticipated that initial investment prices and battery replacement costs will go down and battery life will be increased. In the next years, the photovoltaic business will continue to grow quickly. As part of efforts to lessen our carbon impact, solar street lighting will be installed more often.
