The Taiwan government set aside a budget of NT$5.5 billion (US$173 million) in 2016 to subsidize local governments' procurement of LED street lamps to replace mercury vapor street lamps, and some local governments will offer open bids in the second and third quarters to procure more than 200,000 LED street lamps in total in 2017, according to industry sources.
Other local governments procured LED street lamps earlier in 2016, with a total of nearly 500,000 installed in the year, the sources said.
In particular, the government of Taoyuan City, northern Taiwan, will install about 10,000 smart LED street lamps supplied by Delta Electronics and Lite-On Technology featuring brightness control based on changes in environment conditions and remote monitoring for maintenance management, the sources noted.
LED penetration of street lamps in Taiwan is the highest around the world, with LED street lamps to account for 50-60% of all street lamps in 2017. Penetration is expected to reach 100% in 2-3 years, the sources indicated. However, smart LED street lamps, for the time being, will be installed in small volumes on a model basis due to much higher costs, the sources noted.
