Why Resilience Begins With Smarter Lighting
As infrastructure demands grow and the grid becomes less reliable, cities and agencies face a hard truth: safety-critical lighting must now operate without depending on the grid. That’s where solar-powered smart lighting systems come in.
Equipped with intelligent controls, off-grid power, and real-time monitoring, smart streetlights today can respond dynamically to:
- Power outages
- Weather events
- Emergency evacuations
- School and traffic surges
- Security alerts or vandalism
With more than 250,000 systems deployed worldwide, Fonroche Lighting America delivers street and roadway lighting that’s independent, intelligent, and engineered for the unexpected.
Table of Contents
The Challenge: Why Grid-Tied Lighting Fails When Cities Need It Most
Traditional lighting systems depend on an aging, centralized power grid that’s increasingly vulnerable to disruption. When the grid goes down, so does visibility—and public safety.
Whether it’s a hurricane, heatwave, wildfire, or transformer failure, critical intersections, evacuation routes, and public spaces go dark right when they’re needed most.
Real Risks Facing Infrastructure Leaders
City engineers, DOT crews, and emergency managers face mounting challenges with grid-tied lighting:
- Blackouts leave roads unlit during evacuation and response
- Storms or accidents delay utility repairs for weeks or months
- Wire theft drains budgets and puts public corridors at risk
- Trenching and rewiring inflate timelines and construction costs
In Vallejo, CA, a transformer failure left a key commercial corridor dark for over two years. Fonroche restored full lighting with 30 solar SmartLights—in weeks, not years—and without grid power.
A National Pattern
From California to Kentucky, cities and transportation agencies are moving away from vulnerable grid infrastructure in favor of resilient, off-grid solar lighting that stays operational when traditional systems fail.
Smart Lighting as a Resilience Strategy
For today’s infrastructure leaders, lighting isn’t just about illumination—it’s about continuity, control, and confidence, especially when conditions are unpredictable.
Fonroche’s smart solar lighting systems are engineered to operate fully off-grid with built-in intelligence that adapts to real-world challenges like weather, theft, and utility failure.
At the Core: Power 365® Energy Management
Each Fonroche SmartLight is powered by Power 365®, our proprietary energy storage and control system. Developed through more than a decade of field testing, Power 365 guarantees:
- 365 nights of continuous lighting per year
- Smart battery diagnostics for performance monitoring
- Automated dimming profiles based on sunset, season, and usage
- Thermal regulation for hot or subzero climates
No diesel backup. No guesswork. Just light where it’s needed—every night.
Built for Real-World Conditions
Every Fonroche system is designed using:
- 10 years of localized weather and irradiance data
- Custom photometric modeling for uniformity and visibility
- Worst-case month sizing to ensure full reliability, even in low-sunlight seasons
Whether lighting flood-prone intersections in Texas or fire stations in California, Fonroche systems are purpose-built to perform—no trenching, no outages, no compromise.
Real-World Results: Emergency Response Without Delay
KYTC: The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet overcame wire theft and grid failures by deploying Fonroche SmartLights—installable in under 45 minutes with no trenching and no utility coordination.
Los Angeles BSL: After repeated vandalism of copper infrastructure, L.A. selected Fonroche for citywide rollout. With zero exposed wiring and remote diagnostics, the lights now operate independently—even during blackouts.
These deployments prove that resilience isn’t a luxury—it’s now the expectation.
Responsive Technology for Real-Time Conditions
Today’s lighting systems must do more than turn on at dusk—they must adapt to rapidly changing conditions, from sudden weather shifts to traffic congestion and public safety events.
Fonroche SmartLights are equipped with intelligent controls and wireless connectivity, allowing city managers, engineers, and maintenance teams to respond in real time—without relying on external communications or grid-tied infrastructure.
Fonroche Connect: Real-Time Monitoring at Global Scale
Every Fonroche SmartLight connects to Fonroche Connect, our global performance and diagnostics platform. Through the Fonroche Tower network, we process over 7 million daily data points, enabling:
- Remote battery health monitoring
- Real-time performance alerts
- Predictive diagnostics for maintenance planning
- Location tracking and system security
No external cabling. No trenching. No centralized IT infrastructure required.
What “Smart” Looks Like in the Field
Fonroche SmartLights dynamically respond to:
Emergency Activation
Full-brightness mode for evacuation routes, fire stations, and emergency corridors triggered by local conditions or remote command.
Traffic-Adaptive Lighting
Programmable profiles increase output during school dismissals, event traffic, or morning/evening peaks, improving safety and flow.
Weather-Aware Operation
Systems adjust brightness to preserve battery life during consecutive low-irradiance days—ensuring continuous performance even in cloudy conditions.
Remote Diagnostics
Real-time system alerts notify city crews of underperformance or tampering before it becomes a failure.
Unlike wired systems, Fonroche SmartLights are self-contained and self-aware, making them ideal for both dense urban grids and remote rural roads.
This responsiveness isn’t just technical—it’s practical. Whether coordinating festival detours, powering intersections during blackouts, or lighting paths through tribal land, Fonroche delivers control without complexity.
Weather-Resilient Hardware and Engineering
In smart infrastructure, performance doesn’t just depend on software—it depends on physical durability. If a light fails during a storm or blackout, the technology behind it doesn’t matter.
That’s why Fonroche solar lighting systems are engineered from the ground up for resilience in extreme conditions—from searing desert heat to coastal salt spray to sub-zero winters.
Built, Tested, and Validated to Outperform
At the heart of our reliability promise is the Fonroche Power Room—the world’s largest dedicated battery testing and validation center for solar streetlighting.
- 12 climate chambers simulate global extremes
- Over 1,300 battery systems tested annually
- Simulations include wind loads, heat cycles, ice storms, and salt exposure
We don’t guess—we validate every spec against real-world conditions before deployment.
Core Components That Last
NiMH Batteries
- 10–12 year life span
- 98% recyclable, non-toxic chemistry
- Safe in extreme heat and cold
- Resistant to overcharge and thermal shock
Powder-Coated, Galvanized Steel Poles
- EN40 wind-rated (up to 150+ mph)
- Optional hurricane reinforcements
- Anti-corrosion coatings for coastal zones
- Customizable color and anti-vandal finishes available
High-Efficiency PV Modules
- Monocrystalline silicon cells
- Hydrophobic glass resists dust and debris buildup
- Reliable performance even in low-light conditions
LED Lanterns
- 190 lm/W efficacy
- Integrated glare control
- Long lifespan (20+ years)
- Field-proven in urban parks, tribal roads, and military bases
Precision by Design
Each system is engineered using:
- Local irradiance and climate data (10-year average)
- Photometric modeling for visibility, BUG compliance, and uniformity
- Worst-case month planning to guarantee 365-night operation
Whether for a fire-prone canyon in California, a hurricane-prone city in Florida, or a snowy reservation in the Dakotas—Fonroche systems are built to endure.
Smarter Lighting, Built for the Unexpected
From power outages to wire theft, extreme weather to emergency evacuations—modern cities can’t afford lighting systems that fail when they’re needed most.
Fonroche SmartLights are engineered for resilience, autonomy, and precision. Backed by Power 365® and tested in the world’s most advanced solar lighting lab, our systems deliver 365 nights of reliable lighting—without trenching, grid tie-ins, or maintenance surprises.
Whether you’re managing:
- An evacuation route in a wildfire-prone corridor
- An intersection subject to wire theft and vandalism
- Tribal lands with limited utility access
- DOT projects that need to stay operational through storms
Fonroche gives you light where it’s needed—no matter what.
Ready to Light Smarter? Let’s Connect.
Let’s engineer your off-grid lighting strategy: Connect with a Fonroche specialist