The LED Street Lighting Alliance has kicked off a street lighting demonstration project in Fujian Province, China help it to enter into Chinese market.
 
According to Chien Yu-mei, deputy head of the alliance, the alliance has struck a deal to provide 14,000 lights for a 30-kilometer project to be installed in tunnels in Fujian Province by the end of 2012.
 
Chien said there are more than 3 million street and tunnel lights in Fujian, and she estimated that the public LED lighting market in the province would be worth nearly NT$100 billion (US$3.34 billion) over the next five years. The alliance intends to use the demonstration project to capitalize on the opportunity in Fujian before moving into other provinces.
 
Alliance head Alex Tong estimated that the global market for LED lighting will grow to 55 billion euros by 2020 and that China's potential in the sector could not be underestimated.
 
To sezie the opportunity in China, the alliance has established a company called Fujian Coastal E-Lighting Technology Co. in cooperation with Chinese partners, Chien said.
 
Tong said the company will be responsible for taking orders in China and forwarding them to the alliance, in an effort to avoid fire-sale schemes that will cause prices to slide.
 
Tong also serves as the chief of the Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories under the Industrial Technology Research Institute.