With European Union officials making efforts to reduce electricity consumption and to eliminate traditional, inefficient incandescent light bulbs by 2012, European LED chip and luminaire maker Optogan says that it has entered a new market for solid-state lighting (SSL) luminaires in Romania.

The market for solid-state lighting luminaries has significant potential over the next 3–5 years, given the EU’s efforts to reduce energy consumption by up to 80%, says Optogan. “In the Balkan area, we estimate a €25–30m market for SSL luminaries by the end of 2012, and we expect Romania to be one of the key countries for developing the region,” says Ove Sörensen, Optogan’s senior director sales & business development.

Optogan’s products will be distributed in Romania, Greece and Bulgaria through a strategic distribution partnership with Bucharest-based KDF Energy, Romania’s largest trader in greenhouse-gas emissions certificates.

KDF Energy expects to invest €1.5m over the next 12 months to develop distribution channels for Optogan products in the region. Romania is a strategic part of the first wave of development for Optogan in Eastern Europe, according to KDF Energy’s owner George Brailoiu.

Founded in Helsinki, Finland in 2004 by Russian entrepreneurs and scientists from Ioffe Institute in St Petersburg, Optogan is a vertically integrated develoer and manufacturer of HB-LEDs for applications including solid-state lighting. In addition to having an R&D facility in Helsinki, since founding Optogan GmbH in Germany in 2005 it has established epitaxy and chip R&D plus a pilot line in Dortmund and, last year, its Fab1 chip fabrication plant in Landshut. Also, after founding CJSC Optogan in Russia in 2009, in 2010 it acquired an industrial facility in St Petersburg, where it has established LED component and luminaire production lines.

Based on its existing strong market in Russia, Optogan aims to establish itself as the SSL market leader in Eastern Europe. With the support of KDF Energy as a key partner, it expects to see rapid growth in LED adoption in the next 18 months in the Balkan region, according to KDF Energy’s  business development manager Robert Ambrozie (responsible for coordinating the partnership with Optogan in the Balkan region).

Optogan develops products for both interior and exterior lighting designed to withstand extreme temperatures without affecting their quality of light. With an LED component luminous efficiency of up to 130 lumens per watt, products are designed specifically to reduce electricity consumption. Optogan says that its LED retrofit bulbs consume just 9W of power (about seven times less than the equivalent 60W incandescent bulbs). Its lamps also have a life-time of up to 50,000 hours, so a household using the lighting system for an average  of 4 hours each day, 365 days a year, can use an Optogan LED lamp for 34 years (or 6 years of continuous illumination). In a firm where lights are turned on 8 hours a day from Monday to Friday, it can be used for 24 years.  

EU officials estimate that, in the future, SSL lamps and luminaries will become a viable alternative to replace incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) lighting, which include mercury in their production process. The advantages for SSL lamps and luminaries include: up to 50,000 hours of operation, electrical power consumption rates seven times lower than classic bulbs, and the absence of toxic elements. EU data projects annual savings of €5–10bn just from using energy-saving bulbs, and funds are expected to be used in developing other green technologies.

Globally, LED lighting was first adopted in 2007 and currently represents about 5% of the total luminaire market. SSL luminaries have been adopted by large companies, and are becoming a viable alternative for the public sector and residential lighting, says Optogan.

A global study, conducted this year by Strategies Unlimited, shows that sales of SSL LED luminaries will experience 20% annual growth through 2014. The main drivers will be improvements in technology, price reduction, energy-efficiency strategies across the globe, and fiscal measures applied by various governments.

Optogan says that, through KDF in Romania, it aims to sell a range of products (LED lighting chips, LED components for luminaries, and a variety of lighting panels) addressing the business-to-business, business-to-consumer and public sectors.