South Africa's first solar-powered traffic light

South African's first solar powered traffic light intersection was unveiled in Cape Town in October 2007.  The pilot site - an eight-robot intersection on  Plantation Road, Montagu's Gift, Cape Town - was retrofitted with energy efficient LED lights, a monitoring unit, a solar panel and batteries as part of a three-month assessment period. 

The aim of the site is to assess whether sun power can keep the robots working normally at all times, and see if the controlling technology can successfully handle transitions between Eskom outages and solar power. 

Besides the potential benefits for motorists, the robots are also more environmentally friendly, because they rely on renwable solar energy, and do not use power generated by burning fossil fuels like coal. 

To view a Photo Presentation of the New Solar Powered Traffic and Light and more information click here.