Performance analysis of valve regulated lead-acid battery in solar street light system under field conditions in India

Batteries form an integral part of solar street lighting systems. Failure of battery in solar street lighting applications can render the complete system useless. At National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), MNRE, Govt. of India, the whole campus is covered with solar street lights for illumination. It was observed that the batteries installed in these systems last for just 1–2 years. The aim of the study was to analyse degradation in capacity of lead-acid VRLA batteries after two years of operation under actual field conditions. The test results indicate the causes due to which the field batteries degrade much faster than the reference batteries installed and operated in lab environment.