Vietnam's southern province of Dong Nai has installed 76 traffic lights using solar energy, Vietnam News Agency reported Thursday.
Head of the Province's Traffic Safety Committee Duong Danh Quy said the province is the first in the country to use solar panels to supply power for traffic lights.
"During the trial, the traffic lights were as reliable as traffic lights wired to the power supply and constituted a valuable energy saving for Bien Hoa city," he said.
The plan was initiated in 2007 by the committee and solar powered posts have been installed on national highways in the province and on some city streets.
Quy said the posts have capacity to store enough power for two day operation and they are easy to install, because they require no excavation of the road surface.
The cost for a post is around 120 million VND (US$6,282) taken from the committee's fund from traffic fines.
"Solar powered posts would replace all public grid wired posts in the near future," he said.
Source: dtinews.vn