When it comes to your average solar street light purchase, there's a lot of successful implementation and maintenance of these products that consumers embrace once they bring one or two into their home. On the contrary, when a municipality is investing in solar-powered streetlights, there is a very different dynamic at play because their goal is to create infrastructure that will endure for years without requiring significant upgrades through a government agency (whether it's a municipal corporation or public works) and put into place under a government's procurement process. Public safety and accountability (e.g. lighting failure) is a huge factor for municipalities when selecting and specifying a solar-powered street light fixture to be installed across physical spaces (e.g. roads, campuses, public parks).
The following are key elements that help ensure that the lights you purchase today are still providing the same level of safety and accountability years down the road after the contractor leaves the site of the project:
- Public purchases (including streetlight fixtures) are different than private purchases; the first is made in bulk for government use, while the latter is typically only one or two units and for personal use.
- A good public lighting specification must incorporate several constraints that can create challenges for municipalities (e.g. cost limits, construction timelines and deadlines).
- Although municipal specifications for public lighting and newly installed streetlight fixtures vary from municipality to municipality, they are all shaped by several key factors: price point; construction dates; and quality of manufacturing and material used to create the product.
The first is maintenance reach. A solar street light on a rural approach road or a large government campus may be inspected once or twice a year. The technology has to tolerate neglect - which is why battery chemistry, weatherproofing, and warranty terms carry far more weight than headline price.
The second is accountability. Government procurement is audited. A specification that names measurable parameters, battery type, IP rating, warranty duration, and charge-cycle rating protects the buyer far better than a vague "high-quality LED solar lights" line in a tender document.
Key specifications to demand in a solar street light tender
A properly drafted solar street light tender in India eliminates any potential misunderstandings. The following items should be clearly noted in a governmental or municipal specification and not left to the judgement of suppliers:
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Battery Chemistries and Cycle Ratingsย specify lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) with a defined minimum cycle charge count, NOT just "lithium battery."
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Ingress Protection Levelsย specify IP65 or IP67 for luminaires as well as driver housings to ensure luminaires are built to withstand heavy monsoon rains and dust. Remember that an IP65/IP67 rating does not guarantee that the fixture is submersible; it guarantees that the fixture is weatherproof.
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Automationย all luminaires will have dusk till dawn light sensing for automatic on/off operation; and motion sensing (using PIR) will also be incorporated to save energy on roadways that have little traffic.
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Warranty Terms and Conditionsย clearly specify the number of years of warranty coverage; what item(s) are covered under warranty; the claim procedure, including where to send claims for warranty service; and the maximum turnaround time for processing warranty claims.
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Wattages and Lumen Outputsย indicate the wattage and lumen output on each pole based on road/area class.
This should ensure all bidders submit the same information; thus enabling the evaluation committee to evaluate the responses based on the facts rather than marketing language.
Battery technology: why LiFePO4 matters for public infrastructure
The main reason why a solar street lights lasts as long in the field as possible is because of the battery that goes inside it. When comparing a low-cost imported product to an infrastructure-grade product, the difference is most pronounced in batteries.
Hardoll uses LiFePO4 batteries instead of conventional lithium-ion batteries to build its solar street lights. To a government buyer, this means you get the added benefit of an increased number of charge cycles (3-5x more) than standard lithium-ion batteries, as well as better performance in forgiving batteries for temperature extremes, and a much safer chemistry for thermal runaway events.
With a typical LiFePO4 battery rating of 2000+ charge cycles (more than 5 years of nightly charge/discharge usage), this aligns exactly with the number of years that most public projects evaluate to determine their expected lifespan according to that project.
When you specify the battery at the time of order for use with road projects, parking lots, or campus lighting, this results in fewer trips to replace poles because these batteries are expensive to install and operate over a long period of time. The battery you choose at the time of installation becomes an indicator of your maintenance schedule moving forward.
Warranty, certification, and total cost of ownership
A warranty represents either protection of public funds by the bidding entity that provided the warranty or the potential for the bidding entity to misappropriate public funds through a warranty. In India, the conventional warranty for solar street lighting installations is 1 to 2 years, with many of the low-cost solar industrial products having even shorter warranties. A major differentiating factor of Hardollโs product line is that the longest warranty offered on solar street lights at Hardoll are upto 5-Year warranty for selected models of SSL-PRO-50W, SSL-PRO-75W, and SSL-PRO-100W, compared to the industry standard of a 1-2 year warranty.
In addition to the duration of the warranty, the two remaining main elements affecting the value of the warranty are
(i) The warranty claim process and
(ii) The warranty is associated with a reputable manufacturer.
At Hardoll, the Warranty claim process is simple and easy to remember in that if you need to initiate a warranty claim with respect to your purchase of a Hardoll product, the customer should email the purchase invoice to contact@hardollenterprises.com; this email will be handled by a dedicated customer care representative.
How to choose a solar street light supplier for government projects
When assessing a solar street light vendor to supply a municipality or governmental agency with solar street lights, find out the following about each manufacturer: have they manufactured the lighting fixture themselves, or is it just a re-branded item that's been imported? Can they provide you with the battery chemistry and cycle rating in writing? Is the IP rating provided for each of the components? Will the warranty for that product be long enough to provide you with an appropriate level of confidence in your purchase? Will they be able to provide you with references of similar-sized projects they have completed with an equal number of solar flood lights?
If a supplier is able to clearly answer all your questions, then it positions you well if an audit were performed on your procurement of solar street lights. If any of the answers were initially ambiguous, then you've created an unqualified risk for the lifetime of the installation. Therefore, the same principle applies when illuminating either a single municipal street or multiple municipal solar flood lights within a governmental complex; you must define measurable and objective parameters for each, and allow the lighting products to prove their worth over time, as opposed to through marketing materials.
Light public infrastructure that lasts
Planning a municipal or government lighting project? Request a project quote for Hardoll solar street lights LiFePO4 batteries rated for 2,000-plus charge cycles, up to a 5-year warranty on select street-light models, and in-house manufacturing since 2016.
