Street lighting to lead smart cities market in the US

Smart street lighting continues to solidify its position as a foundational layer for broader smart city projects as it saves cities and utilities billions of dollars in energy and maintenance costs and also has begun to open up new revenue opportunities.

Market forecast

According to a new report published by the Northeast Group, the interest in smart street lighting triples in US cities. Of the cities with more than 100,000 residents, 314 cities are converting to LED lighting and the country will invest USD8.2bn in street light modernisation over the next decade. In addition, the Global Smart Street Lighting & Smart Cities: Market Forecast (2019-2028) reveals that the total investment in LED and smart streetlights, as well as additional smart city sensors attached to streetlights, will reach USD50.4bn over the next decade.

New market opportunities

Although the US has been cautious to invest in smart city technologies, various reports states that investments in smart city technology are reaping important cost-savings as cities face budget shortfalls in the wake of COVID-19 related to economic challenges.

“The smart street lighting market has rapidly advanced since our last survey back in 2018,” said Chris Testa, Research Director at the Northeast Group. “The number of planned projects has more than doubled, prices have stabilised and the benefits are better understood,” he added.

As LED and smart street lighting projects have always represented enormous efficiency opportunities for cities, with savings typically reaching over 65 per cent, the increasing demand for smart street lightning makes the US and in particular New York City a growing market for start-ups and companies worldwide. Smart lighting will form the backbone for larger smart city programmes all over the US as cities look to add smart parking, environmental sensors, electric vehicle charging infrastructure, traffic monitoring and other applications producing new urban data streams.

Learn more and join the Access Cities programme

The Access Cities programme follows the exciting development with smart lighting in New York City and looks for potential challenges and opportunities for companies to join. If you want to know more about market opportunities, please get in touch with the Access Cities representative in New York.

For more information about market opportunities in the US, please contact Danish Cleantech Hub.