Design and Construction of a Solar-Powered Street Lighting Prototype for the University of Garoua- Cameroon Campus

Introduction: Lighting is an essential basic need because it ensures the safety, comfort and well-being of citizens. Several means of lighting have been developed by man, the most recent of which are autonomous photovoltaic lighting systems. It is becoming possible to design lighting systems that can operate without a power grid. The objective of this work is to design and construct a solar system adapted for a public lighting need of the University of Garoua’s campus. Method: After evaluating the weather conditions of the installation site using the PVGis software and the daily energy requirement, the components were dimensioned using calculation methods based on the least sunny month. Results: The prototype consists of a 170 Wp monocrystalline photovoltaic panel that will be tilted at an angle of 15° during installation, a 20A PWM controller, a 100 Ah GEL battery, a 50W LED floodlight, a 32 A DC circuit breaker, a 10 A LDR-DC switch, a 20 KA DC Surge Arrester, and a 6m stainless steel pole. Charging cables have a cross-section of 4 mm2 while discharge cables have a cross-section of 1.5 mm2. The total cost of the scheme is 365,000 (three hundred and sixty-five thousand) CFA francs. Conclusion: An efficient and reliable and economically solar streetlight is designed and implemented in the University of Garoua campus. Further work will be conduct to evaluate the performance of the prototype.