Educational 23 April 2025
If you’re planning to light a street, pathway, or parking lot, chances are you’ve asked, or been asked, the seemingly simple question: “What’s this going to cost?” The answer gets complicated fast, especially when you start comparing solar lighting systems to conventional grid-connected ones.
Here’s the surprising part: solar lighting isn’t just the greener option—it’s often the more affordable one too. That might sound counterintuitive if you’re used to thinking of solar as a premium product, but traditional lighting carries substantial infrastructure costs most people overlook. Trenching, wiring, labor—these expenses can make up as much as 50% of a project’s total cost. Solar lighting? It bypasses nearly all of them.
Once installed, solar systems run entirely on sunlight, eliminating energy expenses for good. And thanks to advancements in solar panels, batteries, and system design, you no longer have to choose between sustainability and affordability. Today, solar lighting is often the smarter investment across the board.
Installing grid-connected lighting involves more than erecting poles and plugging in fixtures. It often requires extensive trenching—cutting into roads or sidewalks, digging through landscaping, and laying down electrical cabling or conduit. This process is expensive, disruptive, and requires significant labor.
The exact costs vary by location, but to give an example: in Florida, trenching and wiring typically run around $30 per linear foot. In a residential development with 150 lots, you might install a light every 150 feet or so—roughly 50 lights total. If each light requires 100 to 150 feet of trenching to connect to the next, that’s 5,000 to 7,500 linear feet across the project.
Multiply that by $30 per foot, and you’re looking at $150,000 to $225,000—before you even get to the above-ground costs like poles, bases, and fixtures.
Solar lights eliminate this cost entirely. Each system is self-powered, equipped with its own solar panel, battery, and energy management system. Installation is simple: dig a hole (or pour a concrete base), mount the light, and you’re done. That six-figure trenching bill? Gone.
Historically, solar lighting systems were significantly more expensive than their grid-tied counterparts. But today, thanks to cheaper (and more efficient) solar panels, higher-density batteries, and smarter, lighter system designs, solar engines can actually cost less than the installation expenses of a traditional grid-tied light.
For example, you might spend $3,000 to $3,500 just to connect a grid light through trenching and cabling—without even accounting for the pole, fixture, or labor. A complete solar lighting system—with LED fixture, solar panel, battery, and energy management system (EMS)—can cost less than that, meaning you’re already ahead before you even factor in long-term energy or maintenance savings.
With grid lighting, the expenses don’t stop once the system is installed. Utility bills continue month after month—and with electricity rates rising, those costs can escalate significantly over time. On top of that, grid-connected systems demand regular maintenance to stay operational. Issues like cable degradation, transformer failures, and copper theft can lead to additional, sometimes unexpected, repair expenses.
Solar lighting, by contrast, offers savings on two fronts. First, it eliminates electricity costs entirely by running on free, renewable sunlight. Second, it minimizes maintenance needs. Thanks to advances in solar panel, battery, and LED efficiency, modern solar lighting systems are built for long-term reliability. Batteries typically last 5-10 years, and panels and fixtures often have lifespans of 20+ years.
To put these savings into perspective, let’s look at a simplified example comparing grid lighting and solar lighting for a residential development with 150 lots:
Total savings: $150,000+ upfront, with even more over time.
Solar lighting isn’t just about sustainability. It’s about savings. When you add up installation, equipment, and lifetime costs, solar is often the smarter financial decision, especially in areas where trenching is expensive or access to electrical infrastructure is limited.
So next time someone asks, “Is solar lighting really worth it?”—you can say yes. And you’ll have the numbers to back it up.
