Wind turbines and solar power plants are being joined in supplying energy to the U.K. power grid by a more humble device, researchers say — the street lamp.
A street lamp covered in photovoltaic cells that can generate more energy from sunlight during the day than it consumes to light the street at night is being tested in the United Kingdom and is already supplying electricity to the national grid, NewScientist.com reported Wednesday.
The SunMast, developed by Danish company Scotia, spends its days generating electricity from sunlight and feeding it to the grid, then draws electricity back from the grid at night to power its light.
The entire length of the light's mast is covered with photovoltaic cells that can generate electricity even on cloudy days, and an inverter at the base converts the DC electricity to AC for the grid.
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