LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – An East Las Vegas Valley neighborhood plagued with street light outages for years is finally getting a permanent solution: solar-powered street lights.
Last August, FOX5 told you about a pilot program off St. Louis Avenue and Palm Street to install 12 solar street lights.
Since the program proved a success, Clark County officials said 86 more lights will be installed in the area. Crews with Fonroche Lighting America tell FOX5, said installations will stretch east to Sandhill Road and Wyoming Avenue, and south to Glen Avenue.
Installations will happen over the next six to eight weeks, officials said. County officials recently purchased a batch of 110 solar street lights; there’s no word where the rest of the lights will be placed.
Last summer, FOX5 interviewed Fonroche Lighting America about their technology, the growing locations all across the Valley utilizing solar street lights, and why cities hard-hit by copper wire thieves are turning to solar options.
“The new technology–these [solar street lights] don’t have copper wire. You don’t have to maintain them. It’s a lot less work for the county to do, long-term,” said Todd Houghton of Fonroche Lighting America.
How much do the solar street lights cost? Last August, County officials said they amount to roughly $3,761 and $5,600 total with labor.
In comparison, County officials said a traditional pole and fixture is around $1,500 (the foundation or base is $6,000), plus $70 per foot for conduit and wire. The cost to repair a street light depends on the damage, county officials said.
Chair Tick Segerblom said, though solar streetlights are more costly upfront, county officials are considering the long-term costs and benefits: the solar street lights cost $40 a month for electricity. Standard street lights cost $500 a month for electricity, Segerblom said.
“I‘m looking to use these in in lots of areas around my District [E]. There’s a lot of areas that don’t have light like alley ways…it could be a great solution where there’s already there’s not a pole there already,” Segerblom said. Many communities across the East Las Vegas Valley face street light outages due to copper thefts.
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