Transport And Main Roads, Queensland, Australia

The Eagle Downs Project is the development and operation of an underground coal mine within the Bowen Basin coalfield of central Queensland, 25km south of Moranbah. To meet Department of Transport and Main Roads requirements, the intersection of the Site Access road needed to be illuminated to category V5 road lighting. To achieve this, Eagle Downs Coal Management selected 5 EG-340 solar powered LED street lights, which subsequently were inspected by DTMR personnel. 

As a result of this sale, the RoadTek Division of Main Roads started an evaluation of Carmanah’s EG-Series solar powered LED street lights for use on Queensland highways where the provision of hard wired power was difficult or expensive. Following up to that evaluation, Orion Solar has now been appointed preferred supplier of solar powered street lights to the Queensland Government.

Queensland is Australia’s second largest State with a land mass of almost 2 million sq km, or almost 3 1/2 times the size of France or Germany. As a result there are many roads which are well beyond the reach of hard wired power making a good opportunity for solar powered lighting.

RoadTek have decided to purchase the components of our EG-320 solar engine and luminaire and incorporate those into the poles and cabinets that they use currently. The first EG-320 lights have been installed at isolated rural intersections where safety is an important consideration. Also taking safety into consideration, the EG-320s are being operated from dusk to dawn, so that the illumination meets category V5 at all times.

The EG-320 fits in the middle of the range of solar powered lights with a maximum lumen output of 5,820  lumens. The next model is the EG-340 at 10,700 lumens followed by the EG-500 at 12,750 lumens.

RoadTek has also purchased the Bird Busta, wind operated, rotary bird deterrent to place on top of the solar panels to prevent bird fouling.