Solar thingies

Does anyone know what these green solar panel thingies by the side of many
roads are?


I'm seeing more & more of these. The consist of a metal box, about 1ft
square and 2ft high, topped by a 8-10ft pole which in turn is topped by an
angled solar panel.

I spotted them first on the A5D in Milton Keynes and suspected they might
power lights for the information points scattered around. But, the are
nowher near anything which might require power, and I've also seen loads on
the M5, miles from any road sign or other illuminated equipment.

 

The ones I've seen have been near weather monitoring doobries.

 

I've seen them, and wind powered ones, on the A40/A449 Monmouth to Newport
road. They appeared a few years ago after the road was rebuilt for about
the tenth time since the 1970s.

The road has CCTV cameras which have aerials. I've always assumed that the
generators provide power for the CCTV & transmitters. The road runs through
a largely rural area so it was probably cheaper/easier/greener than laying
cables.

 

I pass one everyday on the A1 and wondered. A quick Google Groups
(solar panel roadside) seems to show that they power roadside
monitoring and telemetry systems.

 

<takes bow>

 

Ah, that's probably what it is then, I know the ones you mean.
I've seen similar things elsewhere (on the way to glos from minsterworth, I
think) but those have the ice-cream scoop things to measure windspeed.

 

Aaahhh. Big Brother does roads as well as shopping centres, town centres,
cash machines, road tax................................