Economic Feasibility of Solar Powered Street Lights
Md. Walid Islam #1 , Md. Sazzadur Rahman #2, Mohammed Minhazur Rahman #3, Md. Olioul Islam #4,
Imtiaz Mahmud #5
#
Department of Telecommunication and Electronic Engineering, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science &
Technology University, Dinajpur-5200, Bangladesh.
1
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Abstract
Most of the street lights in Bangladesh use high pressure sodium vapor lamps and energy saving
bulbs running from the national grid electricity to light the street. These high power bulbs use
approximately 50 to 500 watts of energy which impacts a great to the end users causing load-
shedding especially in the pick hours like evening. This work is focused on the national aspect
and gives a feasibility study of using solar energy and LED lights to serve this purpose and give
a relief from this huge energy consumption. The LED lights powered with solar energy
produces light with the same luminance as off the 200 watt sodium bulbs. Though the initial cost
of implementing the solar street light is higher than the traditional street lights, but the ultimate
result in the long run is quiet impressive. We studied for 1000 lamps and concluded that after 20
years of uses, solar street lights additionally saves 60.51% besides of saving national power
energy. Moreover, it saves the environment by preventing 7485.82 tons of CO2 to be produced
by the traditional electric street lights.
Keywords: Solar powered street lights, LED lamp, energy saving.
1. Introduction
Energy shortage is perhaps the biggest threat to Bangladesh’s future economic growth. The present
maximum demand for electricity varies between 4,500 MW and 5,600 MW and it is expected
to rise to 7,000 MW within the next two years. Maximum generation available is between 3,800
MW to 4,600 MW. The estimated demand supply gap currently is 2,000 MW. The National Strategy
indicates that by 2021, all citizens of Bangladesh will have access to electricity. Bangladesh also has a
policy which aims to increase the share of renewable energies to 5% of the total power generation in
2015 and to 10% by 2020.
Additionally, the pick hours of electricity in Bangladesh are from 7 pm to 11 pm and most of the load-
shedding occur in this time. The country-people moves continuously in this time but due to load-
shedding, the street lights remain off and hampers people’s life.
The Solar PV LED Street Lighting is one of the most efficient approaches to fulfill the goal and it
focuses on energy efficiency with the replacement of existing street lights with solar power as the
source of energy. It is proposed to replace lighting of city roads in Bangladesh with this more
efficient light source and solar PV modules for energy generation.
The solar-powered LED for street lighting requires a proper system design with suitably installed
capacity of solar PV and battery according to the selected high-power LED in order to meet street
lighting standard. LED will reduce the power consumption as well as LLP (loss of load power) and
thus is the best choice for solar roadway lighting.
LED can reduce power consumption in lighting. This also implies that the copper wire for electrical
transmission line in street lighting can be reduced. For LED Street lighting powered by solar PV,
which is a stand-alone system, doesn’t need any transmission wiring. These two factors contribute a
great deal in economic assessment of LED street lighting.
The present study carried out the energy saving analysis of street lighting systems using conventional
sodium lamps and the high-power LED Street Lights. The economic feasibility of the solar-powered
street lighting using high-power LED luminaires (40W) for 3 km highway studied. The each pole
distance is 30m. Economic comparison of street lighting design, namely, LED Solar Powered Street
Lights, and conventional sodium lamps, is carried out.
2. Methodology and Data
The main benefits of city street lighting include provision of security to communities and
improvement of driving visibility contributing to safe vehicular movement. The costs of providing
street lighting (installing, energizing and maintaining street lights), however, becomes a huge
burden to almost all city governments all over the world. Of these costs, energizing the street lights
represents the single biggest component. The utilization of LED (light emitting diode) lamps reduces
power consumption without reducing the luminance and improves energy efficiency, thus reducing
overall electricity consumption for street lighting and helping to lower power costs significantly.
The combined use of LED lamps and solar PV for street lighting further reduces the annual costs in
the provision of street lighting services. Solar PV in tandem with LED lamps for street lighting
improves electricity services (by freeing up electricity consumption of street lights and making it
available to other consumer segments). This will in turn contribute to the Government Policy of
improving energy security (energy efficiency improvement and use of renewable energy resources),
environmental protection etc. and to global objectives by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
This work will demonstrate the technical feasibility of solar PV and LED lamps for street lighting in
Bangladesh and will serve as capacity building tool for the use of energy efficient lighting technology
and renewable energies for street lighting services in Bangladesh and the region as well.
2.1 Technical Details and Components
The solar public lighting system consists of autonomous installations. Solar energy is produced on the
spot. They are self-generating stations of energy which guarantee an autonomous power supply for
the apparatuses i.e. independent from an electric power supply system or power grid. The
principal components are:
i. Solar panel
ii. Light source: LED lamp
iii. Battery Controller: with current limitation functions for saving more energy.
iv. Pole: 6 to 8 meters high and 4 millimeter in diameter, composed of a galvanized steel frame
with powder anti-corrosion coating.
v. Accessories: all necessary cables, (cable joined) and screw bolts, packing etc.
Presently, the number of street lights in major cities of the country ranges from 33 to 38 poles per
kilometer. This gives between 26 – 30 meters street light pole spacing. Street lamp pole heights vary
according to road type. In Dhaka, street lamps along the airport road have height of around 15 meters,
while those along the city center range from 8 to 12 meters.
2.2 PV and Battery Sizing
To determine solar PV panel size and battery size, the following is assumed
• Hours of operations per day: 12 hours from 18:00 – 06:00 hours daily
• Days of autonomy: 3 days
• Battery voltage level: 12 V
• Array inclination: 15 degrees
With the above assumptions, the 40-watt LED lamp system’s average daily energy requirement is
0.480 kWh. To satisfy the luminance requirements for the three different luminaire sizes, the
following module size and battery size is determined as in Table 1.
Table 1 Panel and Battery Sizes
Luminaire size PV Polycrystalline Solar Module Size Battery Size
15 Watt LED 40 Wp solar PV panel 50 Ah, 12 volts
30 Watt LED 75 Wp solar PV panel 100 Ah, 12 volts
40 Watt LED 100 Wp solar PV panel 150 Ah, 12 volts
2.3 Empirical street lighting feasibility study
We start from a comparison of the traditional grid connected electric power and solar power
systems to draw economic, social and environmental conclusions as well. Our analysis focuses on
basic components of the two systems for twenty years of use. The main components of expenditure
for the road lighting are:
-The cost of products acquisition,
- The cost of installation of transformers and cables,
- The cost of energy consumption,
- Maintenance and operating costs.
We assume a road length of thirty kilometers. The distance between two poles is thirty meters. This
project will require 1000 units of light.
2.4 Electricity street lamp investment cost:
Table 2 Electricity Street Lamp Expenses
Component Quantity Price in BDT Total amount (BDT)
200 Watt (W) high pressure 1000 1090 10,90,000
sodium vapor lamps
Light Pole 1000 7,500 75,00,000
Transformer 1 3,00,000 3,00,000
Cable 30,000 m 35 x 3.28 x 30,000 34,44,000
Labor cost 1000 5000 50,00,000
Installation charge 1000 2200 x 1000 22,00,000
Miscellaneous cost 2000 2000 x 1000 20,00,000
Initial investment cost 2,15,34,000
Electricity consumption:
The lights function for twelve hours from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m.; the price of electricity is (15.5 TK /
kWh. 200 w high pressure sodium lamps are used for the street lamp. Each light will cost BDT 37.2
per day. All the lights will cost BDT 93,000. The total in one year (365 days) will be of BDT
1,35,78,000 and for 20 years of exploitation BDT 27,15,60,000.
Maintenance fee:
The main cost of high pressure sodium lighting is lamp replacement and gas refilling. It
includes equipment purchasing fees and worker’s wages. The average lifespan of street lamps is five
year if no voltage fluctuation affects the lamps. Considering light refilling, replacing, labor cost and
other maintenance cost, we consider a total maintenance cost of BDT 1,00,00,000.
Then the overall expenses including equipment purchasing, electricity consumption and maintenance
give a total of (2,15,34,000 + 27,15,60,000 + 1,00,00,000) = 30,30,94,000 BDT for 20 years.
2.5 Solar street lamp investment cost
Table 3 Solar Road Light Cost
Components Quantity Price in BDT Total amount (BDT)
100 Wp solar PV panel 1000 9500 95,00,000
Led lamp 40 w 1000 4400 44,00,000
150 Ah, 12 volts 1000 18000 1,80,00,000
Charge controller 1000 5000 50,00,000
Pole 1000 12000 1,20,00,000
Lamp bracket 1000 1500 15,00,000
Battery box 1000 700 7,00,000
Labor cost 1000 1000 10,00,000
Installation charge 1000 2200 22,00,000
Miscellaneous cost 1000 2000 20,00,000
Initial investment cost 56,300 5,63,00,000
Battery Cost
Charges related to electricity consumption for the solar system is condensed to battery replacement
within five years of use considering their five years lifespan, i.e. (18000 x 3) x 1000 = 5,40,00,000
BDT.
Maintenance
The solar panel lifespan is thirty years; the LED lamps have a lifespan of at least 50,000 hours,
which means they can be used for more than 10 years without requesting any replacement; the
controller 10 years and 30 years life span for the pole i.e. (4,400 + 5,000) X 1000 = 94,00,000 BDT.
Then the overall expenses which including equipment purchasing, battery cost and maintenance give
a total of ( 5,63,00,000 + 5,40,00,000 + 94,00,000 ) = 11,97,00,000 BDT for 20 years.
3. Results and Discussion
Considering the initial investment cost, the electric system appears to be economically profitable BDT
2,15,34,000 vs. BDT 5,63,00,000 from a solar system; the analysis in the long term however reveals
the solar power system to be more viable BDT 30,30,94,000 against BDT 11,97,00,000. The solar
investment makes it possible to bring savings of BDT 18,33,94,000. Moreover, the cost of acquisition
proves to be acceptable in regard to the advantages offered by its lower cost for the long run.
Though installation cost is high, absence of cable and negligible maintenance and electric costs make
it much more efficient. In the other hand, to support 1000 street lights for 20 years, electrical energy
produces a total of 7485.82 tons CO2 which is totally removed by the solar powered street lamps.
Moreover, this is really unlike fluorescent and most HID technologies; LED’s contain no hazardous
mercury or halogen gases. So, in terms of ecological sense, it is really the best choice to replace the
electrical street lights by the solar powered street lights.
4. Conclusion
The solar powered LED Street light is a great idea for everyone. Taxpayers benefit from this Change
by saving money and improving their town. The environment is also saved because of the much
fewer emissions released into the atmosphere in the production of electricity. The autonomous system
makes it mobile to use it even in the rural areas out of the range of electricity. This also saves the
national power energy especially for the countries like Bangladesh where electric power are of real
concern and thus helps in national economy. Moreover, in time of natural disaster, it works
continuously where the electric powered street lights stop working due to power disturbance. The use
of LED lights will decrease the need for maintenance as well. In conclusion, the solar powered LED
lights are an outstanding solution to saving money, saving electrical power, and saving the
environment.
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