New solar streetlights should help with safety in east Las Vegas area

Solar-powered streetlights are illuminating a Clark County neighborhood as part of a pilot program — and it has little to do with what’s best for the environment.

The county late last month installed 12 streetlights from the solar streetlight company Fonroche Lighting America along Palm Street and St. Louis Avenue to boost safety in the east Las Vegas block and reduce copper wire thefts, officials said.

“(Wire thefts) are very common,” said Jimmy Benoit, traffic management manager at Clark County Public Works. “That’s why we chose that area. It’s a hotbed of wire theft activity.”

Ultimately, the county plans to order 100 more lights for the program, said Tick Segerblom, the Clark County commissioner whose district includes the area surrounding Palm and St. Louis. The county is budgeting $2 million for solar lighting.

The lights are vandal-proof and require no maintenance, said Todd Houghton, the director of sales and strategic accounts for Fonroche Lighting America.

In addition to Clark County, the city of Las Vegas has installed solar lights from the company in eight parking lots, City Hall and the FlixBus station.

All the components of the light sit on top of the streetlight with no wires going down the pole, unlike a traditional streetlight — meaning there’s no copper to be stolen. And the lights don’t require trenching and underground wiring, resulting in a significant savings, Houghton said.

There have been around 1,600 spots around the county where streetlights no longer work due to wire theft, Segerblom said. In addition to installing solar lights, the county replaced the copper wires with aluminum wires.

The solar streetlights provide residents with safety, Houghton said. There was little lighting on Palm Street before the lights were installed.

“We’re giving these streets in these areas the ability to have streetlights and have lighting (for) the roads so people can go out,” Houghton said. “That’s really what it comes back to.”

Fonroche has its own battery-testing facility that does life-cycling testing, which takes a product through extreme heat or cold to know how long it can last before being replaced, Houghton said.

Batteries charge during the day and when it turns dark, lights automatically go on and run on battery power, Houghton said.

An additional benefit: Solar lighting stays on during power outages.

“We can provide the same levels of light that your grid-tied lights can do,” Houghton said. “But you’re not connected to the grid so you’re not paying a power bill for the next 30 (or) 100 years.”

The solar batteries don’t need to be replaced for 10 to 12 years, Houghton said. The LED or solar panel components in the lights can last over 25 years.

Typically, the overall cost to go solar is 30% to 50% less expensive, Houghton said.

“Long-term value of reducing the theft in the area, upgrading the safety in the area, not having to pay a power bill for 10 to 12 years … that’s what we’re looking at with the areas where you have wire theft,” Houghton said.

The county’s efforts to curb copper thefts also include modifying light structures in areas where stealing is high by installing wire above the streetlights, Benoit said.

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