The Importance of Independence from Power Grids

With our growing demand for electricity in our lives, the strain on power grids has increased every year. This results in power outages, brownouts and blackouts in communities around the world, and highlights the need for independence from the power grid.

Solar lighting can offer many benefits when looking for off the grid options, particularly in outdoor spaces. We’ve compiled a list of some of the major advantages solar has over wired lighting with this in mind.

Extreme weather and natural disasters

Solar lighting’s reliability makes it the perfect choice for outdoor lighting, especially in areas such as hospitals and emergency facilities. The lights can be trusted to remain on during severe weather and power grid outages. FLT’s solar lights has withstood floods, storms and hurricanes.

The City of Cape Canaveral, Florida, installed over 52 solar powered SCL2 Series luminaires at their municipal water reclamation facility. This was due to the buildings also being the hurricane and emergency response centers for the region.

“The sustainability and resiliency of our assets is very important. Now that we are not attached to the power grid, we can maintain 24-hour operations during an emergency.”

– Sustainability Manager, City of Cape Canaveral

Public Safety Power Shutoffs

Also known as rolling blackouts, Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) are used by power utilities to reduce the risk of power lines sparking and causing fires. With extreme heat and wildfires increasing in frequency every year, PSPS will most likely become a more regular occurrence, especially in California. Although PSPS are very important to prevent wildfires, they disrupt life for residents and businesses and can sometimes last days.

Solar lighting can help this problem in two ways. When municipalities switch to solar lighting for their streets, parks and outdoor spaces, the demand on the power grid decreases, which could help with the frequency of shutoffs. In addition to this, areas with outdoor solar lighting are unaffected by the PSPS. This can help communities have a bit of normalcy during a stressful time.

Copper theft

Street lighting being vandalized and stripped of copper wiring has become a huge problem for municipalities in recent years. Some cities, like Los Angeles, report an increase in copper theft of 800%. Many cities spend millions of dollars to replace and repair the outdoor lighting. Luckily, solar lighting isn’t affect by copper theft as there is no wiring in the poles, with the lighting fixture being self-contained.