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Mostly Cloudy Solar-powered streetlights fill a niche
Solar panels sit atop two streetlights on Valley Lane in the section of Valley Stream known as the “Fish Hook.” Village workers installed one over the summer and the other three weeks ago to replace lights that had gone out, and the technology represents a new option for the village when it comes to lighting dark areas.
Residents living on separate ends of Valley Lane complained to the village about the dead lights near their homes. The problem turned out to be the underground cables that run power to the poles from the utility lines that are situated behind the houses in that part of town. When employees went to look at each site, they determined that it would be difficult and costly to dig for the cables.
The self-contained solar lights were chosen instead. The first was installed on Valley Lane East during the summer and the second on Valley Lane West three weeks ago.
Assistant Highway Supervisor Brian Howley said that he has been interested in solar-powered lights for several years, but they had been too expensive when he first looked into them. This summer, he discovered the price had dropped by 70 percent. It was cheaper to install the new technology on the old light pole on Valley Lane than to dig behind residents’ homes, so the village opted to spend $1,600 on each new streetlight.
The existing LED fixtures, which the village replaced its old streetlight bulbs with last year, cost $600 to replace, Howley said. The solar-powered lights are rated for 50,000 hours and should last about 20 years, Howley said, with their rechargeable batteries needing to be replaced every five years.
“The light output is equal to if not a little bit more than the old one,” Howley said. “And the residents were happy. They got their light back and we didn’t have to dig up their backyard.”
The village has no immediate plans to install any more, but officials view the technology as a handy option when a lack of electrical power access poses a problem.
“It enables us to get light where we couldn’t get light before because we didn’t have power there,” said Mayor Ed Fare. “It gives us flexibility. Where we have problems, this solves the problems.”
