Solar powered public lighting not yet viable says Tipperary County Council

Tipperary County Council is monitoring the potential for solar-powered public lighting.

The suggestion was made at last week’s sitting of Tipperary County Council during a discussion on lighting policy.

However, Director of Services Marcus O’Connor said solar lights do not yet hold enough power for public use. He said it was possible to trial them but only in areas that needed lighting for short amounts of time during the day. A spokesperson from

Tipperary County Council added that the capital and maintenance costs of solar lights are too high.

The comments followed a presentation on public lighting, which said 6,000 of Tipperary’s public lights are LED. Public lighting represents 65% of Tipperary County Council’s electricity consumption.

Tipperary is part of the Public Lighting Energy Efficiency Project (PLEEP) which aims to upgrade 11,600 street lights to LED in the next two years.

Tipperary currently has 17,850 lights across the county. However, LED lights have some limitations.

Cllr David Dunne asked if the light spread from LED lights was less than the previous sodium bulbs.

The spokesperson agreed that the spread range is not as far if they are not properly designed.