Solar lighting is an excellent solution for several situations. Jamie Janides runs through all the relevant standards for electricians to note when installing.

Commercial-grade solar lights are a reliable, cost-effective and sustainable solution for mission-critical applications in public areas. However, if they don’t comply with Australian lighting and safety standards, you risk installing lights that will fail, or worse, put community safety at risk.

Not all commercial-grade solar lights comply with the relevant standards, and with each standard up to 170 pages long, it can be difficult to decipher what to look out for.

This article highlights the eight components of solar lighting and the key standards they need to comply with to ensure the lights won’t fail or put safety on the line.

Eight essential components and standards for solar lighting

Solar light footings

Most solar lighting providers will provide standard foundation cage footings that are designed for locations that have good soil conditions.

However, where there is uncertainty about soil conditions, particularly in locations that are close to the beach and have sandy conditions or solid rock, soil tests must be carried out to ensure the footings used are certified to withstand the conditions.

Your solar lighting provider should be able to facilitate any required soil testing to ensure the solar light footings are designed for the location’s specific soil conditions.

Solar light poles

When it comes to solar lighting poles, there is no single pole that fits all applications.

Solar light poles need to be designed and manufactured to suit the specific location, the location’s weather conditions and the solar light’s structure. To do this, they must comply with the following standards:

• AS/NZS 1170 Structural design action;
• AS/NZS 4100 Steel structures; and
• AS/NZS 4600 Cold-formed steel structures;

Your solar lighting provider should provide poles that have been designed to consider the area of the solar panels required for the lighting system, as well as the wind region of the location.

When your solar light poles are designed to meet these specific requirements, you can trust they are compliant, reliable and safe to use.

Solar panels

Your solar lights’ solar panels need to comply with Standards Australia’s IEC certification requirements including:

• IEC 61730 Photovoltaic module safety; and
• IEC 61215 Photovoltaic modules design.

IEC 61730 focuses on the safety aspects of the PV modules and is centred on the requirements for construction and the requirements for testing.

IEC 61215 focuses on the design qualification and type approval of PV modules. Compliance with this standard ensures that the modules are capable of withstanding long-term outdoor exposure.

For peace of mind, ask your solar lighting provider for a copy of the certification documents that demonstrate compliance with these standards. All solar lighting systems supplied by Orca Solar Lighting comply.

Luminaires

When it comes to solar light luminaires, all commercial-grade solar lighting providers should provide luminaires that comply with Australian EMC standards, and be able to provide a range of optics to suit Australian and New Zealand roadway lighting standards including:

• Luminaire Body: AS 1874 (aluminium) – ISO 12944-5:2007 (paint finishes), ISO 9227 (Corrosion) and IEC 60529 (ingress protection);
• LM80-08-2008;
• IES TM-21-2011;
• IEC/EN62717; and
• NATA ISO/IEC 17025 (photometric).

In Australia, it would be rare for a commercial-grade solar lighting provider to supply solar light luminaires that don’t comply with these standards, however, if there’s any uncertainty, ask your solar lighting provider to confirm compliance. All Orca Solar Lighting luminaires comply to Australian Standards from a design and product perspective.

Energy management control systems

For mission-critical solar lighting applications, your solar lighting system’s energy management control system (EMCS) must comply with:

• AS/NZS 3000 Electrical installations;
• Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS);
• EN 61000-6 Electromagnetic Compatibility/EMC;
• IEC 62109-1 Safety of power converters;
• IEC 60529 Ingress protection; and
• EN 60590 Safety of information technology equipment.

Commercial-grade solar lighting systems that comply with these standards are often custom-made. Ask your solar lighting provider to show you the schematics for each EMCS to verify compliance with these standards.

Batteries

One common pitfall we have found in the industry is customers being provided with the wrong solar battery size for their solar lighting system, leading to a significantly reduced lifespan or complete failure and needing to replace them.

To ensure solar batteries are fit for purpose, solar batteries need to comply with the following standards:

• AS/NZS 4029.2-2010 Stationary batteries – Lead-acid – Vented types – Dimensions of cells and terminals
  This standard applies to stationary batteries, specifically lead-acid batteries that are vented. It specifies the dimensions of the cells and the terminals of these batteries.

• AS 4086.1 Secondary batteries for use with stand-alone power systems – General requirements
  This standard deals with secondary batteries, which are rechargeable and used in stand-alone power systems and outlines the requirements for these batteries crucial for reliability, safety and performance.

• IEC 60896 21 & 22 Stationary lead-acid batteries
  These international standards for stationary lead-acid batteries deal with the general requirements for these batteries, as well as performance and safety tests and methods of testing.

• IEC 896.2 Stationary lead-acid batteries – Part 2: Valve regulated types – Requirements
  This international standard for stationary lead-acid batteries specifically focuses on valve-regulated types. The standard outlines the specific performance and safety criteria these batteries need to meet.

Lighting design

A comprehensive lighting design is integral to a solar lighting system’s performance, durability and reliability. Every solar lighting project needs a lighting design.

Before your solar lighting solution is provided, your solar lighting provider should provide you with a professional lighting design by a qualified electrical engineer to ensure compliance with AS/NZS 1158 Lighting for Roads and Public Spaces – Pedestrian Area (Category P) Lighting – Performance and Design Requirements.

The design should include a thorough shading assessment of every solar light location. During the shading assessment, your provider should use accurate weather data as a key input and any shading from buildings, structures and fences should be accounted for.

If there is any shade, your solar lighting provider may use workarounds including:

• Setting each solar light to the correct power model to allow for varying amounts of shade.
• Ensuring your solar lighting system’s battery and solar panel are the correct size and provide sufficient battery backup to provide for slightly shaded applications.
• Determining if light poles should be powered by a ‘slave’ pole which has the solar panel and battery located in a shade-free location, with a low voltage cable trenched and cabled to the light pole.

Performance guarantee

For peace of mind, your solar lighting systems will perform reliably, make sure you choose commercial-grade solar lights that come with a minimum five-year performance guarantee.

Installing solar lights that comply with these Australian standards will give you peace of mind your solar lights will perform optimally and will help keep road users, pedestrians and the community safe.