China Considers Adopting Taiwanese Lighting Standards

Local LED lighting companies have great hopes for cross-straits cooperation

China is reportedly considering the possibility of adopting some of Taiwan's LED lighting certification standards, initially those applicable to LED models which can be immediately applied in the Chinese market, in order to speed up the replacement of traditional lighting with LED alternatives. This is great news for Taiwan's lighting makers, which are anxious to expand into the mainland.

Chu Mu-tao, head of the Electronics & Optoelectronics Research Lab at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), reported that the two sides of the Taiwan Straights have, in fact, already begun cooperating on the development of common certification standards for LED lighting. At the present time, experimental results for LED street lighting products are consistent in both Taiwan and China.

Soon, Chu said, “We should be able to start mutual promotion of each other's certification standards.” This will not only help Taiwanese lighting makers save the time needed to submit their products to certification bodies in China, but will also benefit those wishing to explore the Chinese market.

Industry figures indicate that the U.S. and Europe remain the mainstream global LED lighting markets, and the development of LED lighting standards in those areas is more advanced. But China is rich in potential; and, in combination with neighboring East Asian countries, the Greater China area will perhaps be able to achieve dominance in setting standards for the global LED lighting market in the future.

Street Lighting
The promotion of LED lighting is an important part of China's development of the green energy industry. In 2009, to accelerate the spread of LED lighting, China launched its “10 Cities, 10,000 LED Lamps” plan, under which the Beijing government selected 10 major Chinese cities and set aside a budget to help them install a minimum of 10,000 LED street lights. Although this scheme carved out a huge slice of the “market cake” and brought great hope to LED lighting makers, its implementation proved to be ineffective due to the lack of standardized LED street lamp certification. Without standard certification, the quality of the applied LED street lamps was suspected to be inconsistent and some went dark within a year of installation.

However, Beijing's enthusiasm for the promotion of LED lighting has not waned. The five-year national development plan announced in October 2010 extended the LED lighting promotion scheme to 50 cities and set a goal of 2 million lamps installed in the five years of 2011 to 2015.

Since the Beijing government announced this policy, LED lighting makers on both sides of the Straits have been working out strategies to take advantage of the massive business opportunities it offers. The advent of a certification system will give them further encouragement. Chien Feng-jen, chairman of Formosa Epitaxy Inc., said that while Taiwan LED lighting makers hold the high ground in technology they are comparatively weak in the skills needed to expand sales. Certification standards are just what Taiwanese LED lighting makers need to beef up their marketing plans.

In this respect, the Taiwan LED Street Light Industry Alliance (renamed the Taiwan LED Light Industry Alliance last December), which consists of upstream and downstream Taiwanese LED lighting makers, has been pursuing contacts with relevant organizations in China for cooperation and mutual promotion of each other's certification standards. For example, it cooperates with the Fujian Optoelectronics Industry Association in establishing agreements for developing LED lighting standard certification and demonstrating LED lighting applications for Taiwan and southern Fujian. It is also cooperating in a demonstration 30-km tunnel lighting project requiring approximately 14,000 LED lamps.

Chinese regulations require that Taiwanese companies set up factories in China before participating in standards cases, and the island's LED manufacturers have one by one either established their own factories on the mainland or set up joint venture plants with Chinese manufacturers. They believe that as they have participated in the development of LED street lighting standards in Taiwan and are aware of its standards and specifications, if China is willing to adopt some part of Taiwan's standards it will naturally help them capture a share of the mainland Chinese LED street lighting market.

All-out Efforts
In order to help Taiwanese companies develop overseas markets, the Taiwan LED Street Light Industry Alliance, which was first organized by the Industrial Technology Research Institution (ITRI) in Aug. 2010, has been upgraded as a formally-registered industrial association at the end of last year and meanwhile renamed as “Taiwan LED Light Industry Alliance” to accelerate consolidation of Taiwan's LED lighting Industry by reinforcing the collective strength and global competitiveness of the industry.

“Though the development of the global LED lighting market has slowed down due to the effect of the global economic slump, the long-term prospects of the industry remain optimistic,” said Tung Chien-hsiang, chairman of the Taiwan LED Street Light Industry Alliance and director of the Green Energy & Environment Research Laboratories under the Industrial Technology Research Institute. He cited an industrial study that anticipated a compound annual growth rate of 32% to 2020 for the global LED lighting market, with China probably being the largest LED lighting market in the world. In light of this trend, the alliance will lead member companies in establishing closer cooperation with their Chinese counterparts.

The alliance, which consists of 33 member companies, held the first general membership meeting on Dec. 24, 2012. The theme of discussion during the meeting was how to develop LED lighting standards for the Greater China area. Meanwhile, along with signals of market recovery, some of its members shared the good news that they have received big orders for this year.

Five committees now operate under the alliance, one each for street lamps, industry activities, international cooperation, standards development, and training & education. In the future, the alliance plans to continue pursuing its mission of serving as a platform on which member companies can promote business around the world, establishing closer cooperative links with companies across the Taiwan Straits, and making recommendations to the government for its reference in formulating industry policies.