Mountain View, CA - In its recently-released Outdoor Roadway and Area LED Lighting Market report, Strategies Unlimited forecasts the global outdoor LED lighting market will reach $1.9 billion by 2017. The push for LED outdoor lighting flourished in 2012, with close to two million LED luminaires installed in tunnels and roadways alone. This trend will continue as LED street light installations are forecasted to grow by 400% in the next five years, although revenue growth will be less substantial due to the saturated market driving prices downward.

Governments and regulatory agencies worldwide encouraged the implementation of LED lighting in 2012 in various ways, including: ARRA funding in the U.S., the 12th 5 year plan in China, and the European 20/20/20 initiative. Developed countries as well as emerging economies installed LED street lights on a large scale. Strategies Unlimited Director of LED & Lighting Research Philip Smallwood states that “Unit shipments of LED street lights are forecasted to have a CAGR of 31% while revenues are forecasted to only grow 16% from 2012-2017 as downward pressure on prices continue due to competition. In North America and Europe alone prices are predicted to decrease on average -20% and -15% respectively.”

After a disastrous response to the multiple product failures plaguing the initial installation of LED street lights in 2009, China has mandated product quality requirements on all manufacturers bidding for LED street light installations. This, coupled with the government’s strong push for decreased energy usage, should help the country attain its goal of reducing energy consumption and carbon intensity by 16% and 17% respectively.

In the U.S., price wars on LED street lights attracted a lot of attention in the past year. One headliner was Cree’s $99 residential LED street lamp. Though prices have been coming down, product quality has not been compromised as the DOE has on-going efforts to implement stringent product quality requirements.

The U.S. has a market that can sustain declining prices along with technological advancements in SSL outdoor lighting. According to Strategies Unlimited analyst Shonika Vijay, “North America (which is predominately the U.S.) will show aggressive growth of 44% in LED street light units in year 2012 through 2017.”