SEPCO recently completed a solar LED walkway lighting retrofit project at a US Marine Corps Bachelor Enlisted Quarters. This installation allows for improvement on energy security and reduces current energy usage on the base. The new fixtures were selected to match the old lighting fixtures in design to fit the architectural integrity of the area and allow for more efficient LED technology to be used in conjunction with solar power. The project also allowed for lower costs by utilizing the existing light poles.
Mandates currently set forth by the US Federal Government pertaining to federal facilities make solar LED lighting an ideal solution. One requirement is that federally owned property and buildings are mandated to materially reduce current energy use. A second requirement is to improve energy security by employing renewable power that operates independent of the electrical utility grids.
At US Marine Corps Bachelor Enlisted Quarters installation there were 143 area and walkway lights long installed and operating. The light fixtures were post top pole mounted luminaries using high energy consuming 150 Watt high pressure sodium lamps. The goal of the project was to disconnect the BEQ lighting and retrofit with much lower Watt, higher quality, longer operating life light from solar power, thus, the area would be completely off a costly, potentially compromised public electrical grid.
The most efficient, economical way to meet federal mandates was to ruse the existing light poles and attach the new, more efficient LED post top fixtures that provide equal or better quality light than high pressure sodium. Technical calculations determine that an 18 Watt LED direct Slide light fixtures from Beacon Products provide superior and was cost effective. All existing light poles were reused with existing underground conduits and wiring in most locations. SEPCO's ground mounted stand alone solar electric power arrays were installed, able to operate up to four fixtures each.
The USMC BEQ light fixtures operate dusk to dawn by using the solar panels themselves to sense day and night times. They formerly consumed 257, 400 Watts of costly grid power each night. The new LED solar lights operate with improved white lighting quality, far lower maintenance costs, and higher visual acuity for enhanced facility security. The new solar units draw zero Watts electricity and are completely independent of an outside electrical grid utility.
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