Today´s street lighting infrastructure usually consists of a simple mast plus luminaire with an investment cost of X and yearly operating cost of Y for the next 25 years. Or – in many cases, for even 30 or 40 years.
The Evolution
An evolution of this model is a horizontal PV-panel mounted on top of the mast – enabling the light to produce it´s own energy, stored somewhere in a battery.
Such solar street lights are fairly reliable due to weather uncertainties, potential snow/dust layers on the panels, or insufficient battery capacities.
So, conventional solar street lights are great for the home market, or architectural design projects, but inappropriate for professional street lighting projects.
The Revolution
But look at the Danish company Scotia Light, how they are bringing solar street lighting to a new level by integrating the PV into the mast and enabling 100% availability of solar street lighting!
Scotia developed a patent pending solution, how to seamlessly integrate mono crystalline silicon cells into the mast. Instead of using batteries, which need to be replaced every 2-5 years, the DC solar energy produced during the day is converted to AC and fed directly into the public power grid. By night, the energy for the luminaire is taken from the power grid.
Look at this animated explanation in order to learn more about how it works:
Scotia Sunmast – How it Works
Benefits
This truly offers some unique benefits:
- 100% availability, as the grid takes over the functionality of the battery
- Can be used with any kind of luminaire (LED, HPS, MH, Fluorescent, etc.)
- Appropriate for EN 13 201 luminaire, also usable on major roads & highways.
- No problems with snow/dust layers due to vertical integration of PV into the mast instead of having horizontal PV-panels
- No wind problems
Financially
The nice think about this concept is not just the technology, but – compared to a conventional grid- or battery powered solar-solution – it also pays off by itself. As the solar energy is fed to the grid, the operator can participate in Feed In Tariff-programs, which are now offered in many countries all over the world.
If this is not possible, the produced energy can be used within the own energy grid, therefore helping to reduce the monthly energy bill.
So, instead of having a cost factor only like a conventional light, SunMast breaks even after several years compared to a conventional solution, and therefore, is a much smarter solution, if you look at the Total Cost of Ownership-perspective.
The Environment Perspective
Another nice thing about this concept is the potential of producing 100% (and more) of the required energy. Therefore, SunMast can significantly contribute to CO2 reduction targets of communities.
For example, one SunMast mast with a 100W LED, compared to a conventional light with a 200W High Pressure Sodium luminaire can save around 12.500 kg CO2 (based on an economic life-time of 25 years, location Munich / Germany).
Want to know more about it?
Check out the Website of Scotia Light.