Solar Power Street Light Prices: Composition and Comparison

How Much Does a Solar Street Light Cost

When you explore solar street light prices online, you will find different stages of development for solar street light products, the price of which is constantly changing due to the emergence of new technologies and changing production costs, but still unchangeable solar products are becoming more and more popular. The main question addressed in this article is, what are the main aspects that make up the cost of a reliable quality solar street light?

As renewable energy products solar street light prices are mainly high, production costs and other relatively high, solar street light components are more complex than traditional street lights, it is the main factor affecting the price of solar street lights, solar street lights have different parts of the composition of the price of each part will determine the final price of the finished solar street light. The original components of solar street lights are more expensive, which is the reason for their higher cost. That’s why solar street lights are a little more complicated than ordinary utility street lights.

Solar street light price composition

1. Street light pole price

2. Solar panel (Photovoltaic) price

3. Intelligent controller price

4. Solar street light battery price

5. Solar street light lamps and light sources prices

In the solar street light components, compared to ordinary street lights more solar panels, batteries and intelligent controllers and other parts, which is correspondingly more than the price of ordinary street lights in these parts.

1. Street Light Pole Price

1. street light pole according to the material, height, wall thickness, street light pole shape, single and double arms and other factors, the price of different street light pole varies greatly.

2. street lamp poles galvanized in different ways, the price is different, street lamp poles commonly used galvanized in two ways: hot galvanized and cold galvanized

– Hot dip galvanizing: also called hot dip zinc and hot dip galvanizing, is a method of obtaining metal coverings by immersing steel components in a molten zinc solution. Hot-dip galvanizing is more expensive than cold-dip galvanizing, but it is more effective against corrosion than cold-dip galvanizing for light poles.

– Cold galvanizing: It is a process of anti-corrosion treatment of the surface of the workpiece through electrochemical principles. The anti-corrosion effect is not as good as hot dip galvanizing, but the price of cold galvanizing is low.

2. Solar Power Panel Price

There are two kinds of solar panels: monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon, which differ in photoelectric conversion efficiency

Monocrystalline solar panel, the conversion efficiency (17%-22%) is higher than polycrystalline, but the production cost of monocrystalline silicon is high, the price is relatively high..
polycrystalline solar panel, conversion efficiency (14%-17%) is not as good as monocrystalline silicon, but its production cost is low, the corresponding price is also low.

3. Intelligent controller price

Solar street lights generally use two types of controllers: PWM and MPPT. these technologies are primarily used in the off-grid solar industry and are both good choices when it comes to charging your batteries efficiently.

PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) is relatively inexpensive and technically mature, with a voltage that matches the PV array, and is suitable for small off-grid solar systems.

MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking)
is more expensive, suitable for medium to large off-grid solar systems, MPPT controllers are less efficient in low power applications, PV array voltage can be higher than battery voltage

4. Solar Street Light Battery Price

Solar street light batteries are generally used with lithium lead-acid batteries, Ternary Lithium batteries, LifePO4 Lithium-ion batteries, the voltage is generally 12 V or 24 V. Nowadays, the most commonly used are LifePO4 Lithium-ion batteries and Ternary Lithium batteries. batteries, which are widely used due to their maintenance-free, and high environmental protection.

Ternary Lithium batteries are relatively low priced, so they are more commonly used in low-end solar street lights, with a charge-discharge quantity of about 500-800 times.

LifePO4 Lithium-ion batteries are maintenance-free, with a charge/discharge quantity of about 2000 times, and are now widely used in solar street lights, with high safety, long life, and high price.

5. Solar Street Light Source Price

Solar street light source generally uses led light source, this light source is small, low-voltage DC power supply, high safety, long life, its price may vary depending on the size of the light source power. led light source in the whole solar street light system cost of the proportion of generally low, so the quality of reliable street light factory will choose to use high lumen LED chip, such as Samsung, Cree, Osram, and other brands.

Solar led street lights v.s. conventional street lights

	Solar Street Light	Conventional Street Lights
Energy	Solar energy – off grid	Traditional electric – on grid
Installation work	No need to lay cables, can run independently, simple construction, very low cost of labor and auxiliary materials.	Tile ditch, laying cable, erecting street light, one light, one pit, cement base. Complex terrain and line requirements, high cost of labor and auxiliary materials
Controllers	Intelligent controller, no noise, flexible control mode can be easily realized for different street lights in the same road section	Control box noise, interference and pollution to the surrounding environment. Can only control the whole street light, control mode is not flexible, resulting in a great waste of energy, not in line with the concept of energy-saving design.
Power Configuration	Solar energy is inexhaustible, energy cost is zero, flexible production and installation methods can be adopted	Need to configure a certain capacity transformer transmission lines, huge control boxes distribution cabinets, expensive costs.
Safety	12V-24V DC ultra-low voltage, safe and reliable	220V AC mains power, there are safety hazards
Prone to problems	Surrounding buildings shade the light, installation direction	Construction quality, the transformation of the landscape project, material aging, irregular power supply, the conflict of water, electricity and gas pipelines
Power supply voltage	Solar dedicated maintenance of LiFePO4 Lithium-ion battery, independent power supply system, under the control of intelligent DC controller, stable ultra-low voltage DC power supply, in terms of less traffic after midnight can achieve half-power operation state.	Utility power supply grid, street light voltage is prone to large fluctuations with the rise and fall of grid voltage. After midnight the peak of electricity consumption has passed, the voltage rise is serious, sometimes up to more than 270 volts, resulting in a waste of energy, aggravating the light pollution and shortening the life of the lamps.
Luminaries and lamps	DC solar energy, using professional solid lights, no light pollution, energy efficient, long life (more than 10 years), giving a natural and harmonious high-definition green lighting effect, lamps and lanterns using low glare cut-off type lamps and lanterns.	Ordinary AC, etc., AC energy-saving lamps, AC high-pressure sodium lamps, light pollution is serious, short life (2000h-6000h)
Maintenance Costs	One-time investment, no maintenance costs, three years to recover investment costs, long-term benefits	Fixed high electricity costs, to long-term uninterrupted maintenance and replacement of lines and other configurations, maintenance costs increase year by year
Investment Comparison	Solar lighting safety without hidden dangers, energy saving zero energy consumption, green environmental protection, easy installation, automatic control and maintenance-free inherent characteristics, no consumption of chemical fuels	Installation is complex, maintenance costs are increasing year by year, there are safety hazards, consuming scarce conventional energy, generating pollution to the environment, affected by voltage fluctuations of the utility grid, causing waste of energy and pollution of light, AC high-power control box prone to noise pollution

Summary

Solar street light adopts high-efficiency monocrystalline (polycrystalline) silicon solar cell power supply, maintenance-free LiFePO4 -Lithium-ion storage of electrical energy, high-efficiency low-voltage LED lights lighting, and the use of advanced intelligent charge and discharge control circuit, with reliable performance, high luminous efficiency, easy installation and other characteristics. No need to lay cables and wires, no line control, save electricity and electricity costs, using DC low-voltage power supply, photosensitive control, safe, reliable, energy-saving, economic, environmental protection, practical, long life (solar cells available for more than 20 years, battery 3-5 years). According to the configuration, model and light conditions, use time, solar street lights fully charged available 3-7 days.