05/09/2019
The American Dream: Fonroche Lighting in the USA
Fonroche Lighting acquires SolarOne, the American leader in solar public lighting
Fonroche Lighting, a global leader in solar street lighting based in France, today announced that it has acquired American firm SolarOne, a solar lighting pioneer and US market leader. The initiative has given the French market leader a strong foothold in America with its range of off-grid street lighting solutions, while benefiting from SolarOne’s expertise and sales force.
SolarOne is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, since 2004, and has been manufacturing solar streetlights for over 15 years. The firm has installed thousands of streetlights across the United States, improving safety and security for public highways, private access roads, pedestrian walkways and more.
Fonroche Lighting, which is already present in more than 40 countries and has subsidiaries in Kenya, Senegal and South Africa, plans to step up its international expansion in 2020 with the opening of two new subsidiaries in South America and Asia.
“We are delighted to have concluded the acquisition of this American business that shares the same values and vision of the future as us. We’re looking forward to developing major public lighting projects with our new American team. This acquisition reflects Fonroche Lighting's
desire to expand in the US market and worldwide. It's a new opportunity to promote our solar public lighting technology to American local government and industry.” said Laurent Lubrano, President & CEO Fonroche Lighting.
Fonroche solar streetlights on previous American projects
As in European countries, much of America’s existing urban infrastructure is lit by conventional and equally obsolete streetlights, and refurbishment costs are considerable. Fonroche Lighting has already completed numerous solar lighting projects in usa to improve safety and security for new urban developments and locations not connected to the grid, such as parks and gardens, greenways and even Indian reservations.
Cheyenne River Indian Reservation
In one of Fonroche’s most iconic projects in the US so far, we provided lighting for the continent’s fourth-largest Indian reservation. Because rolling out a power grid across such a vast area would be difficult and costly, solar streetlights proved to be the best solution for improving safety and security in the city centre and along access roads. Two years ago, we installed 80 lighting points in this South Dakota reservation.
