Application guide · Off-grid lighting
Solar Street Light System Price: Design, Load Sizing and Cost
A solar street light system price is set by four numbers, not by the lamp wattage alone: the nightly kWh the LED actually draws, the days of autonomy the site demands, the panel wattage that recovers that load in the local winter sun, and the battery chemistry that survives the ambient temperature. Get those four right and a 60 W pole costs USD 210–290 EXW; get them wrong and the same pole is back on a truck within a year with a swollen lead-acid pack.
Typical nightly load
0.36–1.20 kWh
Standard PV size
50–150 W per pole
Autonomy
2–4 cloudy nights
This page is the sizing sheet our export desk uses for village roads, industrial yards, car parks and highway verges in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and the Philippines. It gives the load table, three standard configurations, indicative EXW price bands, the local voltage and certification rules that change the design, and the installation details that decide whether the pole still works in year five.
Why solar street lights fail before the warranty ends
Almost every failed solar street light we are asked to quote a replacement for died from the same three causes, and none of them is the LED. The first is a battery sized on nameplate instead of usable energy: a 12 V 60 Ah lead-acid block is sold as 0.72 kWh, but at 50% depth of discharge and 30 °C ambient it delivers about 0.3 kWh in year two, which is less than one night of a 60 W lamp.
The second is a panel sized on summer irradiance in a country whose rainy season runs for four months. A 60 W lamp drawing 0.72 kWh per night needs 1.4–1.6 kWh harvested per day in the worst month, which is a 120–150 W panel in Lagos or Manila and 100 W in Gauteng. The third is thermal: a sealed plastic battery box on top of a steel pole reaches 55–60 °C at midday, and every 10 °C above 25 °C roughly halves LiFePO4 calendar life.
- ✓Lead-acid packs replaced every 18–24 months because depth of discharge was ignored
- ✓Panel wattage chosen for June in Europe, not for the local rainy season
- ✓Battery mounted inside the lamp head where it bakes at 55 °C
- ✓No dimming profile, so the lamp burns full power from 18:00 to 06:00 and empties the pack by 02:00
- ✓Earth leakage or surge damage after the first lightning season because the pole was never grounded
Typical load values per pole
Start from the luminaire, not from the panel. The table below uses LED efficacy of 130–150 lm/W and a 12-hour night; add 0.05 kWh for controller and sensor standby. Motion-sensor dimming typically cuts the nightly figure by 30–40% on low-traffic roads.
| Item | Power | Hours | Daily energy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 W LED, 6 m pole, pathway | 30 W | 12 h | 0.36 kWh |
| 50 W LED, 6–7 m pole, village road | 50 W | 12 h | 0.60 kWh |
| 60 W LED, 7–8 m pole, collector road | 60 W | 12 h | 0.72 kWh |
| 80 W LED, 8 m pole, arterial road | 80 W | 12 h | 0.96 kWh |
| 100 W LED, 9 m pole, highway verge | 100 W | 12 h | 1.20 kWh |
Multiply by the number of poles for a cluster. A 40-pole village road at 60 W is 28.8 kWh per night, which is a different design problem from a single pole: cluster the batteries in one ground cabinet and use a 25.6 V bus instead of 40 separate 12.8 V packs.
Recommended configurations
These three tiers cover roughly 80% of the enquiries we receive. Panel sizing assumes 4.0 peak-sun hours in the worst month (typical for coastal West Africa and the Philippine wet season) and a 0.75 system derate for dust, temperature and wiring losses.
| Tier | PV array | Battery | Power electronics | Serves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| S1 — 30 W pathway | 1 × 60–80 W | 12.8 V 40 Ah LiFePO4 (0.51 kWh) | Integrated MPPT controller, 10 A | 0.36 kWh/night, 2 nights autonomy |
| S2 — 60 W collector road | 1 × 120–150 W | 12.8 V 100 Ah LiFePO4 (1.28 kWh) | Integrated MPPT controller, 20 A | 0.72 kWh/night, 2–3 nights autonomy |
| S3 — 100 W arterial | 2 × 100–120 W | 25.6 V 60 Ah LiFePO4 (1.54 kWh) | 25.6 V MPPT controller, 30 A | 1.20 kWh/night, 2 nights autonomy |
Do not size the panel below 1.5× the nightly kWh divided by peak-sun hours. For a 0.72 kWh night at 4.0 peak-sun hours that is 270 W of array nameplate before derating, which is why a 60 W lamp usually ships with a 120–150 W panel and not the 80 W panel many catalogue kits show.
Indicative cost ranges (USD, EXW Ningbo)
The bands below are hardware-only, ex-works, for a single complete pole kit — lamp, panel, bracket, LiFePO4 pack, controller and cable. They exclude the pole, foundation, freight and installation labour, which typically add 35–60% depending on the port and the civil works.
| Item | Specification | Indicative range |
|---|---|---|
| 30 W all-in-one kit | 60–80 W panel · 0.51 kWh LFP · 6 m pole ready | USD 145 – 195 |
| 60 W split kit | 120–150 W panel · 1.28 kWh LFP · MPPT 20 A | USD 235 – 310 |
| 100 W split kit | 2 × 100 W panel · 1.54 kWh 25.6 V LFP | USD 380 – 470 |
| Ground battery cabinet (4–6 poles) | 8 kWh LFP, IP65, 25.6 V bus | USD 1,150 – 1,480 |
| Galvanised pole, 6–9 m | Hot-dip, 3 mm wall, wind load 120 km/h | USD 85 – 210 |
- Indicative EXW ranges compiled from current container quotations; final price depends on order quantity, battery brand tier, pole height and delivery port.
- A 100-pole order typically lands 12–18% below the single-kit band because panels and packs ship in full containers.
- Freight from Ningbo to Durban is roughly USD 3,200–4,500 per 40 ft container; to Lagos USD 3,800–5,200; to Manila USD 1,600–2,400.
All prices on this page are indicative EXW ranges compiled from current container quotations. They are not a binding offer: freight, duties, installation and exchange rates move, and the final price is issued after we receive your load list and delivery port.
Local adaptation: voltage, climate and certification
Street lighting is a public-works purchase, so the design has to match the local grid code and the local weather file. These are the differences that change a bill of materials between the four markets we ship to most.
| Market | Grid & code | Climate | Certification |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 230 V / 50 Hz; SANS 10142-1 CoC for any grid-connected pole | Highveld winter nights at −5 °C, KZN coastal salt spray | SANS 60598 luminaire, NRS 097-2-1 only if grid-tied |
| Nigeria | 230 V / 50 Hz; NEMSA inspection for public installations | 35–40 °C ambient, harmattan dust loading in Dec–Feb | SONCAP / MANCAP for imported luminaires |
| Ghana | 230 V / 50 Hz; Energy Commission type approval | Coastal humidity above 80% RH, heavy June–July rain | EC registration, IEC 61215 for modules |
| Philippines | 220 V / 60 Hz — 60 Hz changes driver and controller selection | Typhoon wind loads 200–250 km/h, 9 months of rain | DOE/ERC compliance, IEC 62262 IK08 for vandal resistance |
Installation points that decide year five
Set the tilt from latitude, not from the catalogue
Use latitude minus 5° for year-round yield: 25–30° in South Africa, 10–15° in Nigeria and Ghana, 10–15° in the Philippines. Flatter than 10° in the tropics lets dust and bird droppings sit on the glass.
Keep the battery out of the lamp head
Mount the pack in a ventilated box at the base of the pole or in a ground cabinet. A 10 °C reduction in cell temperature roughly doubles calendar life; the pole-top head is the hottest place on the structure.
Ground the pole and bond the frame
A 16 mm² copper conductor to a 1.5 m earth rod, plus a Type 2 surge arrester on the DC side. Lightning is the single largest cause of controller failure in West Africa.
Program a dimming profile
100% until 23:00, 50% until 05:00, then 100% for the dawn peak. This alone cuts nightly kWh by 30–35% and lets a smaller pack do the same job.
Torque the bracket and check the wind load
A 100 W panel on a 9 m pole is a 1.6 m² sail. Use 76 mm poles with a 3 mm wall in coastal or typhoon zones, and specify the wind speed in the purchase order.
Plan the cleaning interval
Harmattan and construction dust cut yield by 8–15% per month without cleaning. Write a quarterly wash into the O&M contract, or the autonomy you paid for disappears.
Hardware for this scenario
The modules and packs below are the ones we actually pair on street-light orders. Send a pole schedule and we will return a bill of materials with the panel and pack matched per pole class.
DLXN-M10-80W module
The 18 V/80 W panel that drives most 60 W pole kits: 0.5 m² of mono PERC, 25-year power warranty, and a frame profile that clamps straight to a 76 mm pole bracket.
View specifications →
DLXN-M10-60W module
Used for 30–40 W lamps on 5–6 m poles where the battery is sized for one cloudy night rather than two.
View specifications →
DLXN-M10-50W module
The smallest module we ship for courtyard and pathway lights; pairs with a 12.8 V 40 Ah pack for a 0.4 kWh nightly load.
View specifications →
DLXN-F2314 25.6 V 314 Ah
When a pole cluster (4–6 lamps) shares one ground cabinet instead of per-pole batteries, this 8 kWh pack keeps the cluster alive for three nights.
View specifications →
Market pages and next steps
Frequently asked questions
How much does a solar street light system cost?
A complete 60 W pole kit — lamp, 120–150 W panel, bracket, 1.28 kWh LiFePO4 pack and MPPT controller — is USD 235–310 EXW Ningbo. A 30 W pathway kit is USD 145–195 and a 100 W arterial kit USD 380–470. Poles, foundations, freight and installation add 35–60%, so a landed 60 W pole in Lagos or Durban usually comes to USD 420–560.
How many watts of panel do I need for a 60 W LED street light?
Plan on 120–150 W for a 12-hour night in a 4.0 peak-sun-hour climate. The nightly load is 0.72 kWh, the array has to replace it plus losses in the worst month, and a 0.75 derate for dust and temperature means 0.72 / 4.0 / 0.75 ≈ 240 W of theoretical array — but a 120–150 W panel with a 2–3 night battery buffer is the practical compromise used across West Africa.
How long does the battery last in a solar street light?
A LiFePO4 pack cycled once a night to 80% depth of discharge gives 4,000–6,000 cycles, or 11–16 years on paper. In practice the pack that lasts is the one mounted at the base of the pole in shade: at 30 °C expect 8–10 years, at 55 °C inside a lamp head expect 3–4. Lead-acid in the same position lasts 18–24 months.
Can solar street lights run for three cloudy days?
Yes, but you pay for it in battery. Three nights of a 0.72 kWh load is 2.16 kWh usable, which at 90% depth of discharge is a 2.4 kWh pack — roughly double the standard 1.28 kWh unit and about USD 180 more per pole. For village roads, a 2-night pack plus a dimming profile is usually the better trade.
Do I need a certificate of compliance for a solar street light?
In South Africa, a SANS 10142-1 Certificate of Compliance is required for any installation connected to a premises electrical system, and public lighting in municipal road reserves also needs the municipality's own sign-off. Standalone poles that never touch the grid still need the luminaire to carry SANS 60598 or IEC 60598 marks. In Nigeria, NEMSA inspects public installations; in the Philippines, DOE/ERC rules apply to government-funded projects.
Send us a pole schedule
Tell us the road length, pole spacing, lamp wattage and the nearest port. We will return a per-pole bill of materials, an autonomy calculation for your worst month, and an EXW and CIF price within two working days.
- Email:
- dlxn@dlxnsolar.com
- Delivery ports:
- Durban · Lagos · Tema · Manila
- Basis:
- EXW Ningbo / CIF
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