In recent years, driven by the further implementation of the "dual carbon" strategy and the accelerated development of smart cities, China's street lamp industry is rapidly moving away from the single attribute of traditional lighting and transforming toward intelligence, green development and diversification. With continuous policy support, breakthroughs in technological innovation and optimized market models, the industry has evolved from simply "ensuring illumination" to "achieving energy efficiency and enhanced functionality", becoming a vital force supporting new infrastructure construction and refined urban governance.
Policy dividends continue to be released, laying a solid foundation for industrial development. At the national level, the 2024–2025 Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction Action Plan and the equipment renewal and replacement policy list municipal lighting as a key sector. Ultra-long-term special treasury bonds provide investment subsidies of up to 20% and loan interest discounts of 1.5%, while carbon reduction support tools offer low-cost financing for the industry. Clear targets have been set: the LED adoption rate of urban arterial roads shall reach no less than 80% by 2025, and urban and rural lighting shall achieve comprehensive green and low-carbon development by 2030. Locally, Beijing, Guangzhou, Guilin, Suixi and many other regions have responded to policies by launching green and smart street lamp renovation projects. Through pilot programs and model innovation, these initiatives have turned policies into practice, offering replicable experiences for large-scale industrial development.
Technological innovation has made multiple breakthroughs, reshaping the industrial landscape. Persistent problems of traditional street lamps such as high energy consumption, low efficiency and difficult operation and maintenance are being continuously addressed, with accelerated application of new technologies including DC power supply, AI intelligent control and IoT integration. The Guangzhou Lighting Construction and Management Center has put into operation the first batch of 110V DC-powered smart street lamps in the Pazhou West Area, adopting an innovative "110V + 48V" dual-voltage architecture that integrates street lighting, 5G base stations, traffic monitoring and other functions. This has not only reduced operation and maintenance costs by 25% but also improved peak energy efficiency by 15%–20% compared with traditional lamps, while supporting emergency lighting via energy storage systems during power outages to safeguard urban safety.
Guilin Haiwei Technology has empowered road and tunnel lighting transformation through "AI+". Its lightweight AI model adjusts lighting strategies in real time based on traffic flow and ambient light, achieving a comprehensive energy saving rate of over 65%. Relevant projects have been selected for the National Green Technology Promotion Catalogue, setting a benchmark for "dual carbon" practices in the transportation sector. Meanwhile, the functional scope of smart street lamps continues to expand, with "one pole for multiple uses" becoming the industry mainstream. Smart lamp poles integrating environmental monitoring, emergency broadcasting and electric vehicle charging are emerging as the "capillaries" of smart cities.
Optimized market models have fostered win-win cooperation between governments and enterprises. The Energy Management Contract (EMC) model, featuring "zero upfront government investment, full-process enterprise operation and maintenance, and shared energy-saving benefits", has become the preferred model for local street lamp renovation. Suixi County, Anhui Province adopted this model, with energy-saving enterprises fully covering the costs of renovating 16,800 urban street lamps and 10 years of operation and maintenance. Through targeted renovation and intelligent platform management, the average power saving rate reached 32%, and fault repair time was shortened from 8 hours to 2 hours, easing fiscal pressure while improving citizens' travel experience.
In terms of market performance, the smart lamp pole sector remains dynamic. As of March 30, 2026, leading enterprises including Dahua Technology, Leyard and OPPLE Lighting have maintained stable market valuations, while shares of Runjian Co., Ltd., Debang Lighting and other companies have risen to varying degrees, reflecting sustained market optimism toward the smart street lamp sector.
Industry data shows the global smart street lamp market is in a period of rapid growth. The compound annual growth rate of globally installed independently controlled smart street lamps is expected to reach 22.7% from 2022 to 2027, and the global market size will exceed $7.49 billion by 2030. Driven by intensive smart city construction, the Asia-Pacific region has become the world's core growth pole, with China showing outstanding potential. China's smart street lamp market is projected to reach 93.78 billion yuan by 2032.
Insiders noted that with the deep integration of AI, 5G, edge computing and other technologies with the street lamp industry, as well as sustained policy support, the sector will further transform toward standardization, platformization and service orientation. Profit models will shift from pure hardware sales to comprehensive solutions of "hardware + software + operation services". Meanwhile, new scenarios such as rural lighting upgrading and intelligent transformation of industrial parks will unlock more growth opportunities, propelling the street lamp industry toward higher-quality development amid green low-carbon and smart empowerment.
Post time:2026-03-21