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Why is anybody using High Frequency Switched Mode LED drivers to power LED streetlights?

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Yes but as you know, the thing that this brilliant “switched linear regulator” design comes up against is power factor regulations. The power factor it presents is about 0.89.

As you know, this won’t cause any problems to the electricity supply network, but as we all know, “regulations are regulations”. The fact that streetlights are on at night time only means that the lack of great power factor just doesn’t matter. Also , your country’s government owns the country’s streetlights, and your country’s electrical power network and who is going to tell your government to take the streetlights down when the government owns the supply network?

But still, the regulations on power factor for streetlighting are at best not known, unless you can advise?
 
your country’s government owns the country’s streetlights, and your country’s electrical power network

Nope, not here. In the UK the Government doesn't own any part of generation or distribution. The generation and local distribution is owned by energy companies as part of a competitive market. The 'grid' which is mostly 275kV or 400kV is owned by National Grid Plc.
So there would be a few people complaining about your power factor issues here. The limits of lag and lead PF are 0.85 and 0.95 respectively.

Thats just it, the LED streetlight that i have proposed here is totally and utterly new!..it is a world first!!...totally different than anything either i or anyone else has ever asked about before!!!....it uses the revolutionary "switched linear regulator" method to drive LED streetlights.

If this is what you say then you shouldn't have posted it here as its now public information and thus free to anyone. You can't patent it or even call it a trade secret. Thus you can't make money out of it.
 
i bet the UK governemnt can put pressure on them to make way for a line of 0.8 power factor steet lights? after all, they are only on at night when overall network usage is way down....specially if it saves the govnmnt money since they dont need replacing as often.
Mind you, if the owners of parts of the distribution system are non British, then i understand its more difficult.
 
Technically they don't own the streetlights either. Local councils (centrally funded, but very separate to the government) will pay for the street lighting.

Actually here several councils have played with other methods of reducing the cost, movement activated street lighting for example or the simpler approach of just turning them all off between 2am and 5am.

The national grid can change the regulations if it likes (after some lengthy consultation) and it will have to at some point to make the grid more able to accept renewable energy sources. However in central Europe the grids are tied together much more with the SuperGrid so any change there would have to be agreed between several countries.

Ultimately manufacturers are going to make the product they can sell now, not one they can sell after they've lobbied the government. It may well be that your design is already sitting on a desk somewhere as a trade secret or in a patent office waiting for the regulations to be favourable.
 
I can only comment on New Zealand arrangements re streetlights.

Many streetlights are owned by local councils and are not metered. They are billed upon the wattage and running hours.
Street lights on motorways are metered and are owned by Transit New Zealand
 
Streetlights are part of night time security as well. When the lights are switched off or out because of a fault, the crime rate goes up. So called smart streetlights are a waste of time and money.
Perhaps every second light can be switched off but security will suffer.
 
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