Patent ID: 8588830

Claim:
An outdoor lighting system controlled by a wireless communications system, the outdoor lighting system comprising: a control station in a first geographic region and having an internet connection; slave poles installed in a second geographic region, each having an outdoor light; a master pole in said second geographic region that is adapted to transmit data to said control station; wherein said slave poles are adapted to wirelessly communicate data to said master pole that is then transmitted by said master pole to the control station; wherein the outdoor lighting system further comprises flexible solar panels wrapped circumferentially around, and attached to, said slave poles and said master pole, wherein the solar panels attached to said slave poles are adapted to power the outdoor lights and the solar panel attached to the master pole is adapted to power said transmission of data to the control station; wherein the outdoor lighting system further comprises a grid-tie and is adapted to supply electrical energy to an electrical grid during at least some peak electricity consumption hours and to receive electrical energy from the grid during at least some non-peak electricity consumption hours; and wherein said data wirelessly communicated from the slave poles to said master pole comprises data on energy production of the solar panels and operation of the outdoor lights, and said data transmitted from the master pole to the control station comprises data on energy supplied by the outdoor lighting system to the grid and data on energy received from the grid by the outdoor lighting system.