J’Burg Solicits the Sun for Power

Three solar streetlights have been installed on Kenmare street as a part of the Yeoville Hillbrow and Berea city regeneration effort, by the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA). "Evaluation was done together with the JDA, to monitor performance, and it was found that the solar street lights were not only satisfactory, but exceeded their (JDA’s) expectations," Broadwing Technologies director Dan Hurwitz told Engineering News Online.

"Even though it is still grid connected using the existing infrastructure, we believe that it could save up to a third, and our estimation is that for every 12,000 or 15,000 street lights that are retrofitted, you could save 1 MW. We believe that City power, in Johannesburg, has about 140,000 streetlights installed just in their region, so if one took the whole country, doing these replacements could save a significant number of megawatts and it would certainly help with the electricity crisis that the country is facing," Hurwitz concluded.

Lifecycle maintenance costs of the installation are favorable, as the locally manufactured Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs used in the streetlights, use lower voltage to produce brighter light and can be used without replacement for about 20 years. "The thin-film solar panel used has a very high temperature tolerance, and is immune to damage from hail," stated Hurwitz.