Cost comparison: solar powered vs conventional illuminated bollards

The cost of supply and installation of solispost solar powered bollards was compared with that for electric bollards. Using figures for a project for a local authority in southern England completed in June 2015, the solisposts offered a saving of approximately 25% or £762 per solispost compared with £1,032 per electric bollard.

In a project completed for a local authority in Surrey in June 2015, nine solisposts were supplied and installed. The authority looked at using conventional, electric bollards and compared the quoted costs for both. The solispost bollards proved to be approximately 25% less to supply and install than the electric bollards, while offering comparable light level output.

In addition, further savings are expected with zero energy costs for the solisposts bollards and little if any maintenance needed over at least a 10 year period.

Solispost is a new, solar powered bollard that is designed to provide illumination from dusk till dawn especially for walkways and cycle paths. It is suitable for use in any situation where a conventionally powered electrical bollard might be considered as well as many locations where an electrical bollard cannot be fitted due to access problems or lack of available power supply.

The cost of supply for the solisposts was approximately twice that for the electrical bollards, but this was more than recouped in the installation costs which were very considerably less for the solisposts.

Solisposts were concreted into the ground surface using a sub-surface baseplate.

The electric bollards would have required trenching and cabling to provide a power supply to each bollard. The project was in an urban area so a power supply was readily accessible. However, the trenching would have required resurfacing and left a repair mark on the pathway as well as adding extra expense.

The total cost of nine solisposts supplied and installed was £6858. The quoted cost for supply and installation of nine electric bollards was £9285 (including trenching, cabling and making good) representing a saving of nearly £2500 on just nine bollards, or just over 25%.

The solispost bollards will provide further savings as they incur no energy costs to run taking all their power from the sun. They require minimal maintenance, the solispost LED is guaranteed for 10 years and there are no electrical connections or wiring that requires inspection providing a further saving on manpower.