Freeport is Going Solar

Posted

A first for Freeport and for Long Island: a battery powered street light that gets its energy from Mother Nature, in this case, the sun.

The new solar streetlight was installed on 24 Hubbard Ave. in May and is part of a trial to see if the Village should consider installing other solar lights in Freeport, said Gary Greenwood, assistant superintendent of distribution for Freeport Electric. “We hope to have several but we’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

The two solar panels are designed and manufactured by Smart City US. They have been attached to a 21-foot high pole and collectively provide 300 watts of power, “equivalent to what was there,” said Smart City representative Alex Stern.

“This system allows us to replace the street light without an electrical feed,” Greenwood said.

Instead, the solar panels charge the battery box and also “act as sensors that turn on the lights when it gets dark,” Stern said.

“This unit can be set on a timer to increase or decrease the lighting output at any given time of the night,” Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy said. In addition, “the current unit installed has been designed to provide sufficient lighting when the sun is not available for up to 10 days. Finally, since these lights require no electric back up, our residents will be assured to have street lighting in the rare event of a power outage.

The new streetlight was installed after “we received numerous requests from residents regarding insufficient lighting on several streets off S. Guy Lombardo,” Kennedy said, and “this administration has reviewed nearly 35 manufacturers’ specifications for solar powered equipment before selecting the installation of the current demo model.”

Traditionally, the power lines and poles are located between the sidewalk and the curb, but at this location, “the telephone poles and power supply lines are located behind the homes, thus resulting in less street lamps than adjacent streets,” Kennedy explained. “Conditions and codes would not permit the installation of additional lighting with wires being run overhead.”

Page 1 / 2