The Advantages and Disadvantages of Outdoor Solar Powered Street Lights

Advantages and disadvantages of solar powered street lights

Advantages:

• Energy-saving: Solar powered street lights use natural light sources in nature to reduce electrical energy consumption; environmentally friendly, solar powered street lights are pollution-free, no radiation, and conform to modern green environmental protection concepts; durable, most of the current solar cell module production technologies are sufficient to guarantee 10 The performance of the solar cell module does not decline over a year, and the solar cell module can generate electricity for 25 years or longer; the maintenance cost is low, and the maintenance or repair of conventional power generation, power transmission, street lights and other equipment is very expensive in remote areas far away from towns.

  Solar powered street lights only require periodic inspections and very little maintenance workload, and their maintenance costs are less than conventional power generation systems.

• Safety: Mains lighting street lights may have potential safety hazards due to various reasons such as construction quality, aging of materials, and abnormal power supply. Solar street lights do not use alternating current, but use batteries to absorb solar energy and convert low-voltage DC into light energy. There is no hidden safety hazard; high-tech, solar powered street lights are controlled by intelligent controllers, which can be controlled according to the natural brightness of the sky and people in 1d. The brightness of the lamp is automatically adjusted by the brightness required in various environments; the installation components are modularized, and the installation is flexible and convenient, which is convenient for users to choose and adjust the capacity of the solar street lamp according to their own needs; The solar street lamp with independent power supply and off-grid operation has power supply Autonomy and flexibility.

Disadvantages:

High cost: The initial investment of solar powered street lights is large. The total cost of a solar street light is 3.4 times that of conventional street lights with the same power; the energy conversion efficiency is low, and the conversion efficiency of solar photovoltaic cells is about 15% to 19%. In theory, the conversion of silicon solar cells The efficiency can reach 25%, but after the actual installation, the efficiency may be reduced due to the obstruction of surrounding buildings. At present, the area of solar cells is 110W/m2, and the area of 1kW solar cells is about 9m2. It is almost impossible to fix such a large area on light poles, so it is still not suitable for expressways and main roads; it is greatly affected by geographical and climatic conditions. Because of the energy provided by the sun, the local geographic climate and weather conditions directly affect the use of street lights.

Insufficient light demand: Long rainy days will affect the lighting, causing the illumination or brightness to fail to meet the requirements of the national standard, or even not lighting. The solar street lights in the Huanglongxi area of Chengdu are insufficient during the day, resulting in the night time Too short; component service life and low cost performance. 

The price of the battery and the controller is relatively high, and the battery is not durable enough and must be replaced regularly. The service life of the controller is generally only 3 years; the reliability is low. Due to the excessive influence of external factors such as climate, the reliability is reduced. 80% of the solar street lights on Binhai Avenue in Shenzhen cannot rely on sunlight alone. 

They are the same as Yingbin Avenue in Dazu County, Chongqing. They all use the dual power supply mode of city electricity; management and maintenance are difficult.

Difficulty in maintenance: the maintenance of solar powered street lights is difficult, the quality of the heat island effect of the solar panels cannot be controlled and tested, the life cycle cannot be guaranteed, and the unified control and management cannot be performed. There may be different lighting conditions; the illumination range is narrow. 

The currently used solar powered street lights have been inspected by the China Municipal Engineering Association and measured on the spot. The general illumination range is 6-7m. If it exceeds 7m, it will be dim and unclear, which cannot meet the requirements of expressway, The needs of main roads; solar street lighting has not yet established industry standards; environmental protection and anti-theft issues, and improper battery handling may cause environmental issues. In addition, anti-theft is also a big problem.