SOLAR-powered street lighting made by a Gwent firm may become a common sight across the country if a pilot scheme in the Western Isles proves successful.

Western Isles Council is piloting two solar-powered street lamps in Stornoway to see if they can benefit from the sustainable technology provided by Newport solar power experts, SolarGen Solutions.

One of the street lamps will be a stand-alone light where rays from the sun will generate the power that the light requires, and will be located in the Lochs area of Lewis.

The second will be located in the town centre and will be a pilot grid-tied system in addition to the existing lighting units which are currently connected to the grid supply system.

SolarGen Solutions has also designed and manufactured solar-powered bus stop lighting, footpath lighting, road signage lighting and school traffic systems for local authorities across the UK.

MD Ken Bird said this was the first grid-tied system in the UK and was unique to SolarGen Solutions.

"The UK could receive as much as two-thirds of its total energy requirement from solar power and our unique solar solutions can be applied to just about every public lighting requirement," he said.

"These lighting lamps can be stand alone or be grid tied, feeding the spare power back into the National Grid. The grid-tied solutions act as mini-generating stations and reduce the money spent on electricity bills greatly, while our stand-alone units cater for communities where the cost of cabling has, to date, prohibited councils from providing lighting."