Skip to main content

Cities to invest $64 billion in LED and smart streetlights by 2025

A new study by the Northeast Group says there are currently more than 2,000 LED and smart streetlight projects globally. With these infrastructure projects, cities and municipalities across the world modernise their streetlights with more efficient light-emitting diode (LED) lights. They are also deploying sensors, communications and analytics software throughout their street lighting infrastructure and creating smart cities. This is a key segment of the emerging Internet of Things. Rapidly falling costs an
April 28, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A new study by the Northeast Group says there are currently more than 2,000 LED and smart streetlight projects globally. With these infrastructure projects, cities and municipalities across the world modernise their streetlights with more efficient light-emitting diode (LED) lights. They are also deploying sensors, communications and analytics software throughout their street lighting infrastructure and creating smart cities. This is a key segment of the emerging Internet of Things. Rapidly falling costs and clear benefits have led to a sharp increase in the number and scale of LED and smart streetlight projects in the past year, according to the study.

"With LEDs approaching cost parity with legacy streetlights, their energy and maintenance savings make the business case a no-brainer. By 2025, LED and smart streetlights around the world will save 97,900 GWh annually, the equivalent of US$12.9 billion in electricity costs per year. Smart street lighting will also pave the way for additional smart city applications such as smart parking meters, environmental sensors and video monitoring," said Ben Gardner, president of Northeast Group.

Of the more than 2,000 current LED and smart streetlight projects across 90 countries, Northeast Group analysed more than 800 projects and found that cities are now undertaking larger-sized deployments. In just the past year, Madrid began the largest single-city project with 225,000 streetlights, Los Angeles announced it would network the 140,000 LED streetlights it recently deployed and the utility Florida Power & Light set plans to network 500,000 streetlights.

As deployments accelerate globally, diverse vendors are all competing for a piece of the growing market. Increasingly, partnerships between vendors across the value chain provide complete smart city solutions. Acuity, 852 Bridgelux, 1947 Cooper, Cree, Echelon, Elster, 940 GE, Itron, 1786 Osram, 5147 Philips, Schreder, Sensus, Silver Spring Networks and 5392 Toshiba are among the major vendors in the market.

Related Content

  • July 12, 2012
    LED forward lighting market to almost double by 2020
    A market report by McKinsey & Company predicts a sharp increase in LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting adoption in the automotive category by the end of the decade. And while in the very near term the industry will experience an increase in daytime running lights and headlamp usage, unique LED light guides and multiple light source lamps, McKinsey predicts that the technology will continue to change and advance, and in the future will include technology such as smart headlamps that sense the driving environ
  • September 25, 2014
    Denver International upgrades to LED lighting
    Power management company Eaton’s Cooper Lighting division converting the parking garage lighting systems at Denver International Airport (DIA) with light-emitting diode (LED) luminaires. Replacing more than 5,400 parking garage fixtures, the DIA conversion will include almost 5,000 McGraw-Edison Valet LED luminaires, helping the airport to save approximately US$327,000 annually or US$6.5 million over 20 years. By making the parking garages brighter and more uniformly lit, the new luminaires will increase
  • April 17, 2015
    US cities pilot new LED lighting technology
    San Diego, California and Jacksonville, Florida are to trial new GE Lighting technology designed to help them become more intelligent and efficient. The GE LED solution uses LED street lighting installations to connect, collect and analyse data being generated, harnessing the power of the industrial internet to help each city run better while providing new services and conveniences for residents and visitors. In addition to piloting the intelligent-city enabling solution, Jacksonville will also pilot. Li
  • March 30, 2020
    San Diego: Let there be (street)light
    The influence of intelligent streetlights is spreading. David Crawford finds that San Diego’s deployment – and attendant legislation – may offer a blueprint for other cities going forward