Global LED Outdoor Lighting Market Enters Maturation Phase

Affected by the global economic downturn, there has been rising number of city bankruptcies. In turn, city management are increasingly valuing sustainable development. Outdoor lighting construction and maintenance costs have gradually increased over the years in city public lighting expenditures. City managers are creating suitable living environment that uses low investment and maintenance costs and can be met on a limited budget.  

As LED streetlight solutions mature, city governments have proven from early pilot projects that LED luminaires are energy efficient, environmental friendly and have long lifetime. LED streetlight prices have also dropped to prices close to conventional luminaires. From manufacturers’ exponential shipment growth statistics, and concentrated release of city government bid contracts, LEDinside believes LED outdoor lighting has moved from the development phase to a mature market. In the next few years LED outdoor lighting shipment volume and market size growth will soar on a YoY basis.

North American Market

By the end of 2015, more than 600 U.S. cities have planned to install LED streetlights. For instance, there will be 142,000 LED streetlights installed in Los Angeles, 41,000 in Seattle, 40,000 in Las Vegas, and 32,000 in Boston. New York is also planning to replace 250,000 streetlights with LEDs by 2017, which is to be followed by the replacement of decorative lights in urban commercial areas. In addition, most areas in Canada are also actively implementing LED streetlight installation programs or incentives.

The North American outdoor lighting market is maturing as more manufacturers enter the market. Manufacturers’ competitive strategies mainly include providing high cost performance products, paying more attention to environmental factors, and satisfying professionally high-end demands. For example, Cree launched 100W  LED streetlight priced at US$ 99 to meet low-budget council’s installation demands. In addition, consumer demands are switching from halogen and incandescent lamps to LED lights that are more energy-saving and have long-lifetimes. Top manufacturers such as Osram and GE have started to reduce their traditional lighting business and focus more on LED products and solutions.