Korean LED lamps to be installed in Vancouver

Korean-made light-emitting diode lamps will illuminate Vancouver next year, as the Canadian city seeks street lights that are brighter and more durable, as well as energy-efficient, officials said Monday.

Yuyang DNU, a Korean LED producer, will supply 20 units of 50-watt and 80-watt lights without charge to Vancouver and nearby Langley in southwestern Canada for a test operation, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency. The deal is to be signed Wednesday.

The two cities plan to install the lamps in February after the certification process.

“Many municipalities in the region are interested in switching street lights to LEDs,” an official at KOTRA’s Vancouver unit said.

“They start by conducting small-scale pilot programs prior to full-fledged adoption of LED bulbs.”

The deal comes as part of the trade agency’s project to help local small- and mid-sized businesses export their products.

The government provides up to 50 million won ($44,200) through the matching fund for overseas marketing, KOTRA said.

Vancouver and Langley are among an increasing number of local governments turning to LED as a fresh source of public lighting in a bid to slash utility and maintenance costs.

In Korea, LEDs account for more than 90 percent of traffic lights and about 14 percent of lighting at municipalities and state-run firms, data show.

The government is pushing to substitute LEDs for all street lamps ― more than 2.7 million nationwide ― which it said could reduce electricity use by the country’s public lighting system by 40 percent.

Korea is the world’s second-largest LED producer after Japan.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)