Why a “300 W” solar street light is not 300 W

A solar street light sold as “300 W” never has 300 W of LEDs running all night: the figure is a commercial power rating, not an electrical one. On the Moroccan market, a “300 W” unit at 1 140 MAD incl. VAT carries a 6 V / 50 W panel and a 48 000 mAh battery, i.e. ≈ 154 Wh: even fully charged, it delivers only 11 W on average over a 14.1-hour December night in Casablanca. How many watts solar street light do I need? That is the wrong question: to compare offers, demand four figures — nominal LED W, real lumens, panel Wp and battery Wh (V × Ah) — then the autonomy with its dimming profile and the efficacy in lm/W, which the NM 06.8.001 draft sets at 130 lm/W minimum.

What does the “W” on a solar street light label mean?

Almost nothing measurable. One Moroccan retailer writes “puissance commerciale” (commercial power) in its own datasheets, and that is the most honest definition: the number expresses the product class being targeted. You will find “150 W” street lights with a 6 V / 15 W panel, “800 W” floodlights rated 3 800 lm and “1000 W” all-in-one units at 1 299–1 300 MAD with a 25 W panel. Demand follows: “lampadaire solaire 1000w prix maroc” is Google's first suggestion in Morocco.

Only one watt figure has a technical meaning: the nominal power of the LED module, the sum of the admissible power of its chips. The module of the LALOGO LS-A60 carries 120 chips of the 3030 type, i.e. 120 W nominal, but the MPPT controller only feeds it the current the night's budget allows: what counts is the lumens that come out (≈ 6 000 lm) and the Wh available (192 Wh).

Wp, Wh, lm, lm/W: the four units that tell the truth

• Wp (watt-peak): panel power at 1 000 W/m² and 25 °C, the only power that feeds the system. In December a flat panel receives 2.99 kWh/m²/day in Casablanca and 3.81 in Ouarzazate (PVGIS-SARAH2 2005-2020, JRC).
• Wh (watt-hour): battery energy, voltage × capacity. A LiFePO4 cell sits at 3.2 V: 48 000 mAh × 3.2 V = 153.6 Wh, rounded to 154 Wh; 60 Ah × 3.2 V = 192 Wh.
• lm (lumen): flux actually emitted, which NM EN 13201 turns into lux on the ground according to pole height and spacing.
• lm/W: lumens per electrical watt consumed. The NM 06.8.001 draft requires at least 130 lm/W; LALOGO modules are rated 180 to 220 lm/W. Divide the lumens by the lm/W to recover the power really applied: 6 000 lm at 180–220 lm/W is 27 to 33 electrical watts, not 120 W and even less 300.

Why can a 25 W panel not feed a “1000 W” lamp?

Because energy cannot be decreed: daily harvest (Wh) = Wp × peak sun hours × system efficiency, with an efficiency of 0.70 to 0.75 covering cell temperature, soiling, MPPT and battery (LALOGO engineering assumption). For the “1000 W” all-in-one sold at 1 299–1 300 MAD:

• 25 W × 2.99 kWh/m²/day (Casablanca, December) × 0.72 ≈ 54 Wh per day;
• a real 1 000 W LED would consume those 54 Wh in 0.054 h, i.e. 3 minutes;
• the product claims 2 300 lm, i.e. 10 to 18 W actually delivered between 130 and 220 lm/W; over a 14-hour night, 54 Wh cover only 4 W on average.

The same calculation for the “300 W” at 1 140 MAD gives 50 W × 2.99 × 0.72 ≈ 108 Wh per December day for a 154 Wh battery: the product will last the night, but at 8 W on average over 14 h; the defect is not in the manufacturing, it is in the name. The autonomy calculation guide runs the method city by city.

How do you read an honest datasheet?

They exist. One serious Moroccan seller publishes for its “80 W” all-in-one: 80 Wp monocrystalline panel, LiFePO4 3.2 V / 90 Ah (288 Wh), 80 W LED, 3 000 lm, 6500 K, CRI > 80, IP66, 1-year warranty. The LALOGO LS-A80 carries the same “80” because it has the same 80 Wp panel; its datasheet lists 80 Ah (256 Wh) or 90 Ah, a 150 W nominal module and ≈ 8 000 lm. Two “80 W” units, 3 000 lm against ≈ 8 000: compare flux and energy, together with price, never the name.

That is the reasoning of NM 06.8.001, which never speaks of commercial watts: efficacy ≥ 130 lm/W, autonomy defined by a 16-hour test at ≥ 40 % of flux at 25 °C, a marking that identifies the battery. A “300 W, 50 000 h, IP65” datasheet says nothing about the night.

Table: what the commercial power ratings seen in Morocco actually hide

September 2026 survey, products anonymised; last column: Wp × 2.99 × 0.72 over a 14-hour night. No Moroccan seller publishes lm/W, Wh, autonomy in nights, IK or a test report: that is what to ask for.

Which model for a “100 W”, “200 W”, “300 W”, “500 W” or “1000 W” request?

How many watts solar street light do I need? None: choose by lumens, pole height, spacing and NM EN 13201 class. The table translates the commercial classes of quote requests into real flux and a LALOGO model.

For the lighting class (indicative selection: M6 or P4–P5 for a douar track, P3–P4 for a housing development, C4–C5 for a communal main street), see the NM EN 13201 classes guide. For all of them, autonomy reads “up to 12 h per night, 3–5 days of reserve at the default profile” and depends on irradiation (sized on December) and on the dimming profile.

How much does a “300 W” solar street light cost in Morocco?

Surveyed in September 2026, excluding LALOGO: a “300 W” street light sells for 1 140 to 1 200 MAD incl. VAT; a “200 W” floodlight 420 to 900 MAD, a “300 W” 550 to 1 050 MAD, a “500 W” 1 464 to 1 580 MAD; the “80 W” all-in-one with the complete datasheet 3 100 MAD. The 1-to-3 gap between two “80 W” units pays for Wp, Wh, a die-cast aluminium housing, IP66 and a replaceable LiFePO4 battery. LALOGO models are sold on quotation with the four figures; a price only compares at equal lumens and Wh.

Which questions should you ask a seller before buying?

1. What panel Wp, mono- or polycrystalline?
2. What battery (V × Ah = Wh), which chemistry, replaceable?
3. How many real lumens, at what lm/W (≥ 130 under NM 06.8.001)?
4. What autonomy, in hours per night and days of reserve, at what percentage of flux, sized on which month?
5. Which IP, which IK, what pole height and spacing for the targeted NM EN 13201 class, what warranty, and who provides service in Morocco?

A seller who answers all five questions sells a street light; a seller who answers “300 W, 50 000 h” sells a label.

Key takeaways

• The “W” of a commercial name is neither the panel power, nor the LED power in service, nor the battery energy.
• Four figures are enough: nominal LED W, lumens, Wp and Wh (V × Ah), plus the autonomy with its dimming profile; the lm/W (≥ 130 under NM 06.8.001) reveals the power really applied.
• A 25 W panel harvests ≈ 54 Wh per December day in Casablanca: enough for 4 W on average over 14 h, not 1 000.
• Choose by lumens, pole height, spacing and NM EN 13201 class, never by watts.

Sources

• IMANOR, NM 06.8.001 “Lampadaires solaires LED pour l'éclairage public – Exigences générales”, draft submitted to public enquiry EP 52/2024 and catalogue entry of the standard
• IMANOR, Guide “Application des normes dans les marchés publics – Éclairage public”, February 2026
• PVGIS 5.2, SARAH2 database 2005-2020, JRC (European Commission)
• EN 13201-2:2015 class values
• LALOGO survey of datasheets and prices on Moroccan retail sites, September 2026 (products anonymised).
• LALOGO 2026 datasheets (Wp, Wh, nominal LED module, lumens, poles and spacing).