Highway 2000 goes solar - Sun-powered lights being installed at interchanges

Sheldon Williams, Gleaner Writer

Solar-powered, stand-alone street lights are now being installed along several legs of Highway 2000 in order to gradually eliminate the dependence on traditional street lights. This is part of a cost-saving initiative by Transjamaican Highway Limited. Currently, 221 solar-powered street lighting systems are being installed.

According to Kim Chin-Shue, public relations director at Advertising and Marketing Ltd, the company which does public relations duties for the toll operators, "Solar-powered lights are being installed on the interchanges of Highway 2000, East-West. This includes the Portmore, Spanish Town and Vineyards legs of the highway. The project is expected to be completed within the first quarter of 2013. Interchanges on the May Pen leg were already outfitted with the systems before it was opened to the public last year".

Chin-Sue attributed the changeover to Trans-jamaican Highway's decision to reduce electricity costs and to reduce direct emissions of gases into the atmosphere. "As safety is of paramount importance to us, the project has been undertaken to provide lighting to assist motorists in safely negotiating these interchanges. The decision to use solar lights was made in order to minimise electricity costs and reduce our carbon footprint, which is in keeping with our environmentally friendly practices," she said.

Transjamaican Highway also emphasised that the findings of extensive investigations carried out prior to the installation of the solar-powered lights proved satisfactory, which encouraged the decision to start the changeover. "A considerable amount of due diligence was carried out by TransJamaican Highway Limited prior to the launch of the project. This included researching and meeting with various suppliers of solar street-lighting systems, and testing the two most suitable solar street-lighting technologies for the project," Chin-Shue said.

"This trial run, which was conducted in 2011, involved the installation of five induction systems and five LED systems along a section of the Portmore Causeway. Upon conclusion, the LED systems were found most durable and effective, and the supplier of this particular system had offered a remarkable level of technical support throughout the testing period," she added.

"The decision was therefore taken to implement this technology along interchanges of our network and some sections of the Portmore Causeway. The project is progressing smoothly and we credit much of this to due diligence," she said.

Automotives was told that "the solar
panels collect the sun's light and converts it to electrical energy.
This energy is stored in the battery bank during the day. The solar
panels also act as sensors, so once there is no solar light impacting on
the panels the lights turn on". Chin-Shue also highlighted the
durability of the solar-powered lights confirming, that among other
things, they can withstand hurricane conditions and are able to operate a
number of days without sunlight.

Quite
durable

"The systems are designed to withstand up to a
Category 5 hurricane. Evidence of this was given when Hurricane Sandy
affected none of the systems which had been installed in 2012. The
solar-powered lights are quite durable and have been designed to last up
to 25 years," she said.

The changeover has also
created employment opportunities for local professionals, whose
expertise were sought to complete the installation. "The project
involves the employing of services from local suppliers, including the
agency which provided and installed the poles on which the lights are
being suspended and the subcontracted firm installing the lighting
fixtures, and fabricating and installing security spikes on each pole,"
Chin-Shue said.

There is no chance of the kind of
blackout which can affect electricity-based systems. "Each system
operates independently. The failure of one light will not affect the
ability of any other light to function," Chin-Shue said. In addition,
she pointed out that "they use a renewable energy source and they
minimise the impact on the environment as they do not use electricity
powered by fuel".

One disadvantage identified is the
high start-up cost. However, the company chose not to disclose the
amount
invested.