It has already been three years since some of the first Soluxio solar light posts were set up in a remote part of the Arabian desert – and they’re still going strong. Sure enough, these desert areas on the equator never quite had to deal with a scarcity of sunshine. So you might think this is the best spot for putting up a couple of solar panels. But over the years our solar street lighting posts have had to deal with a different kind of problem:

Sand and dust

Once in a while, a sizeable amount of coarse sand gets picked up by the wind and accumulates into a literal sandstorm; all of which, of course, will blast at the pole’s solar modules. But even after three years since we installed them you won’t find a single scratch in the steadfast glass housings made by our partner SCHOTT. Nor does the exterior show any sign of discoloration; as the cheaper polycarbonate housings surely would’ve done by now.

That’s why we only use quality materials for our solar products

The interesting thing about this area is that solar power generation proves to be more difficult than one might expect. Not that there has ever been a lack of sunshine. But there certainly is an abundance of dust; a multitude of miniscule lightweight particles. In these areas, clouds of dust get swept up by each and every gust of wind, and has a tendency to stay up.

Your average solar panel would have to absorb sunshine through the layer of dust that quickly accumulates on them. But let’s say you’ve got an tech-driven company, and you’ve designed technology that tracks the trajectory of the sun and turns your solar panel along with it. You’d still have to clean up the panels once in a while in order to keep the dirt off of the solar cells.

Unless you align your solar panels vertically

It is impossible for dust to stick to our vertically aligned solar panel technology. The module’s cylindrical shape also ensures sunshine will always reach it at an optimal angle – regardless of the sun’s position. What’s more, due to the highly efficient crystalline silicon PV cells integrated in our solar panels, our solar light posts have always managed to generate enough power to keep the lights on at night; every night. Without maintenance, for three years in a row. Even when clouds of dust did their utmost best to try and stop them.

That’s how you keep the lights on in the desert