Granary exploring solar street lights

Milton Town Council and the town’s planning and zoning commission have given the developers of the Granary at Draper Farm development a green light to pursue the idea of solar street lights for the planned residential development.

Both town bodies heard presentations by Mariah Underhill, director of development for Convergence Investments, and Chris Garza, vice president of business operations of Houston, Texas-based EnGoPlanet, which would be the contractor for the lights.

The idea of solar street lights was broached by town council, and Underwood said Convergence decided to see if having such lights was possible. 

In short, Underhill says yes, solar street lights are possible. Garza said EnGoPlanet has solar street poles in municipalities on the Texas coastline, as well as in Europe and the Middle East. He said the lights are entirely grid independent. The lights are solar-powered and operate off an internal battery.

Garza said the poles are 20 feet tall, are made of high-strength structural steel and are galvanized with an industrial finish to prevent corrosion. The poles would be secured to a concrete footing. 

Each pole has a slim light and has six solar panels integrated into the pole. 

Garza said the cost is about $25 per month per pole, which he said was about the same price as lights powered by Delaware Electric Co-op if the town wanted conventional poles. Under EnGoPlanet’s contract, Garza said EnGoPlanet would be responsible for maintenance of the poles. While the entire cost for the whole 1,350-unit development is not yet known, Underhill said for the first four phases of the planned 10-phase development, there would be about 170 poles. The Granary has already broken ground on Phase 1 of the development and has received preliminary site-plan approval for Phase 2. 

After town council heard the proposal Oct. 7, officials asked the planning and zoning commission for a recommendation. The planners heard the presentation from Garza and Underhill Oct. 15. 

The big issue for the commission was the maintenance of the batteries and what would happen if the batteries went out. Underhill said the poles will have two batteries each, and each battery is on a five-year replacement cycle. She said all maintenance costs are rolled into the monthly cost of the poles. 

“It’s easier than changing your battery in your car,” Garza said. 

He added that town staff could be trained to change the batteries and do other routine maintenance in the event of an emergency. Garza also said the brightness of the lights can be adjusted to be higher or lower depending on what the town wants. He said his firm’s typical response time for maintenance issues is about 72 hours. If there was a more serious issue, such as a pole hit by a car, response time may be longer, depending on the issue. 

Underhill said once the streets in the Granary are dedicated to the town, the poles become town property. 

Commissioner Jeff Seemans said he was wary of committing to the plan, given that no one from the town has ever seen the lights. Town Solicitor Seth Thompson said the commission isn’t being asked to commit to anything now, as there is no maintenance agreement with Convergence or EnGoPlanet at this time. 

The commission decided to recommend to town council that the solar street lights are a viable technology and can be explored further. Additional action on the lights will be at the discretion of town council.