With the falling prices of solar panels, the demand for solar street lighting solutions is rising sharply across the world. As per a report published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the prices of solar panels plunged from $10/W to around $2/W from 1980 to 2010, registering a decline of as much as 80% over 30 years. Moreover, the prices further fell from $0.70/W to $0.35/W, which registered a drop of 50% from 2015 to 2019.
The fall in the prices of these panels has caused a sharp decline in the prices of solar lighting systems, thereby boosting their popularity globally. Besides, the surging number of smart cities in several countries is also propelling the expansion of the global solar street lighting market. In recent years, many smart city development projects have been launched in the U.S., China, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea. China has invested quite heavily in these projects as compared to the other countries in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
Get More Insights: Solar Street Lighting Market Revenue Estimation and Growth Forecast Report
Additionally, a Letter of Intent was signed by South Korea with Malaysia in September 2018 for building a smart city in Kota Kinabalu, which is the capital of Sabah, Malaysia. This smart city development project is predicted to massively push up the requirement for energy efficient lighting systems in the country. Furthermore, many countries, such as the U.S., India, Germany, and China are making huge investments in infrastructure development, particularly highway and roadway development, owing to the rising vehicular traffic.
This is also predicted to fuel the solar street lighting market at a CAGR of 9.4% between 2020 and 2030 (forecast period). Furthermore, the value of the market is expected to surge from $5.7 billion in 2019 to $14.6 billion by 2030. Depending on structure type, solar street lighting systems are classified into standalone, portable, and centralized categories. Amongst these, the demand for centralized lighting systems was found to be the highest during the last few years and this trend is predicted to continue in the coming years as well.
This is attributed to the fact that centralized on-grid solar street lighting systems provide seamless functionality. Bridges, airport runways, highways and roadways, manufacturing sites, parking lots, and parks and playgrounds are the major areas in which solar street lighting systems are deployed. Amongst these, the demand for these systems is predicted to be the highest in highways and roadways in the coming years. This is credited to the increasing focus of several governments on building world-class infrastructure and deploying solar lighting systems on highways and roadways.
Geographically, the solar street lighting market was dominated by the APAC region in the years gone by and the market will also exhibit huge expansion in this region during the forecast period, as per the estimates of the market research company, P&S Intelligence. This is ascribed to the rising urbanization rate and the launch of several initiatives aimed at augmenting the adoption of solar street lighting systems in regional countries such as India, Japan, and China. Additionally, China is increasingly focusing on solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity building, which is also propelling the market advancement in the country.
Hence, it is clear that the demand for solar street lighting systems will surge in the coming years, primarily because of the growing popularity of solar energy, falling prices of solar panels, and increasing number of smart cities all over the world.
