Carterton council trials solar street lights

If your evening stroll through Carterton has taken you to the Carters Line and Somerset Road intersection lately and you've suddenly felt strangely sun-kissed, there is a good reason for it.
The Carterton District Council has seen the light and become the first Wairarapa council to adopt solar power for street lighting, installing the first one a month ago at the intersection.
Carterton district council consulting engineer Warwick Potts said using the solar light was both a trial to see how it ran as well as a purely economic decision.
"It's the first one we have put in, I'm not sure about the other councils. We put it in because it was the cheapest alternative option for getting a light source at the intersection. We were looking at options and the cost to install a standard flag light was considered to high. The contractor suggested the solar option and we ran with it."
Mr Potts said the solar option was reasonably priced to install and required very little maintenance.
"Certainly they can be a bit cheaper to install than having a power source from the mains power."
He said there had been no problems so far, but the light generated from solar energy was different from that generated by the usual source.
"The light is not quite as bright as we would normally like to have them."