Sun and Wind Power a Street Light in Grand Prarie, Texas
City of Grand Prarie News Release
Contact: Amy Sprinkles 972-237-8140
August 22, 2007
 A first in North Texas, now the sun and wind will power a street light in Grand Prairie. This first solar and wind powered street light has been installed on Conover Street at the entrance to the Main Library and Senior Center, 925 Conover.
“Fort Hood has a wind and sun powered light pole, but to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time a city in Texas has installed such a pole,” said Public Works Director Ron McCuller. “If it does as well as it has in other states, we’ll be able to use this technology in targeted areas throughout town where the cost of extending power to a site might be prohibitive. We are excited to see how this test light does”
“We chose a highly visible test site for our first light,” said Ronnie Bates, Streets Supervisor, who was responsible for researching the technology and bringing it forward for approval. “The entrance of our Senior Center and Main Library sees thousands of visitors a week and we had been getting complaints about the entrance being dark. While the solar/wind light is not as bright as the electrical light, it is really working well for this use and location.”
Solar Wind Technologies LLC configured the system using solar panels, a small wind turbine, batteries and a special lamp, all mounted to a regular light pole. The solar panel uses the light from the sun converting it into energy stored in a battery, which provides power for the street light at night. For backup energy, the light pole also has a small wind turbine mounted at the top of the pole which creates and stores power in the battery as it turns in the wind. If the battery is full, the turbine doesn’t turn.
“This is a great application for the city,” said Mike Correale of Solar Wind Technologies LLC. “With a solar and wind hybrid system, we can extract energy from the sun or the wind, both of which are prominent here in North Texas, generating clean, green energy.”
“Not only can this save on our electrical installation and monthly service costs, it also eliminates the possibility of copper thefts from these poles,” said McCuller. “We really see these solar/wind poles having great potential in remote parts of our parks, in areas that are hard to get electricity to and possibly as replacements for light poles frequently hit with copper thefts.”
The cost of the solar/wind power system is about $6,600 a pole, but the cost to extend utilities and the average monthly electrical cost of about $400 a pole per year is saved since the light pole doesnt use electricity. Additionally, when the power is out, the light will still be on at night.
“This is a clean technology we will definitely consider in future applications,” said McCuller.
Learn more about Solar Wind Technologies LLC.
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