LED highway lighting project in China features a million Cree LEDs

More than 10,000 LED street lights from Kingsun Optoelectronic Co. Ltd. have been installed along nearly 75 miles of roadways in Shenzhen, China. The LED fixtures, which were installed along one tunnel and four highways, together use more than a million Cree XLamp XP-G and XP-E high-efficiency white (HEW) LEDs.

Kingsun, a leading China-based LED lighting company, illuminated Jihe highway number G15, Nanguang highway number G9411, Longda highway number S318 and Yanba highway, as well as the Dameisha Tunnel.

Kingsun installed 270-watt and 300-watt RL2R Apollo LED luminaires alongside the highways, including three traffic lanes and an emergency lane in each direction. The installation was designed to average more than 20 lux, the Chinese national standard for illumination of main roads.

A combination of Cree XLamp XP-G and XP-E LEDs were used to provide high lumen output and efficacy with a compact package size. Kingsun anticipates a 60-percent reduction in energy consumption compared to the high-pressure sodium (HPS) fixtures that have been replaced in the upgrade.

According to the Energy Management Contract (EMC) business model implemented by Kingsun, the energy savings associated with the Shenzhen project can be put toward the installations upfront costs for an estimated return-on-investment of four years.

"Crees XLamp LEDs proved to be the perfect solution for our modular lighting system, providing the illumination performance required by our light distribution scheme for this major roadway installation," said Li Xuliang, President of Kingsun Optoelectronic Co. Ltd.

"In large-scale lighting deployments like the Shenzhen Highway Project, where lumen output and efficacy are both essential and required, LED lighting is the ideal solution," said Tang Guoqing, General Manager of Cree China Sales. "Crees broad portfolio of XLamp LEDs was selected for this demanding project because they are highly efficient and have been proven to reduce overall system costs."

The LED street-lighting installation was a key component of the 2011 Summer Universidade, an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU), hosted by Shenzhen in August.

Cree’s XLamp XP-G LED now delivers 140 lm/W

Cree has announced a new upper level of performance for its XLamp XP-G LEDs, which now deliver up to 140 lm/W in production quantities.

Cree describes its XLamp XP-G LEDs as “the industry’s premier LED optimized for directional lighting, used in a variety of applications from street and area lighting to PAR replacement lamps to high-output flashlights.” Cree also says it is the first LED supplier to publish 10,000 hours of lifetime data, which can allow customers to project TM-21 reported lifetimes greater than 60,000 hours, or nearly seven years.

The cool-white XLamp XP-G provides up to 148 lm and 141 lm/W (for the highest-performing bin), while the outdoor white (4000K) XP-G LED delivers up to 139 lm and 132 lm/W and warm white (3000K) offers up to 122 lm and 116 lm/W, all at 350mA.

About the Author 

Tim Whitaker is the Editor of LEDs Magazine.