LED Lighting Energy-Saving Subsidy to Be Launched with Scale of Approximately 4 Million Units
Recently, it was learned from insiders at national ministries that the energy-saving subsidy policy to encourage LED lights, jointly researched and formulated by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance, is about to be officially released in the near future.
According to information disclosed by the insider, the first batch of LED energy-saving subsidy policies will mainly target two types of commercial lighting fixtures: LED downlights and spotlights, with an initial subsidy quantity of approximately 4 million units. Based on the average price of such fixtures in the current market (based on a 50% subsidy standard), the subsidy amount is less than 200 million yuan. At the same time, he also stated that at this stage, the subsidy targets are mainly products that have passed the national CQC LED lighting fixture product certification.
Subsidy Amount Lower Than Expected 8 Billion
Previously, there were industry rumors that the first round of LED lighting energy-saving subsidies could reach 8 billion yuan. At an earlier press conference by the NDRC on the roadmap for phasing out incandescent lamps, Xie Ji, Deputy Director of the Environmental Resources Department of the NDRC, also clearly stated that the government would strongly encourage the production and promotion of LED lamps. However, he also noted that compared with incandescent and fluorescent lamps, LED lamps currently do not have a price advantage. "As a new generation of light source, LED lamps are still relatively expensive and will take some time to be accepted by the market. On the one hand, we will accelerate the improvement of fluorescent lamp quality; on the other hand, we will vigorously promote LED lamps."
This evidently laid the groundwork for the reduction in subsidy amounts. Chen Yansheng, Chairman of the China Association of Lighting Industry, believes that subsidies for LED lighting products will be a gradual development process. Choosing to launch the LED lighting product subsidy policy at this moment serves more as a guiding role for the industry; the initial subsidy intensity will not be too large. Relevant departments will gradually expand the scope and intensity of subsidies based on the implementation effects of the subsidy policy.
Government launches multiple major initiatives to support LED lighting
Industry insiders revealed that the NDRC and other departments had begun soliciting opinions from some domestic LED lighting product manufacturers on financial subsidy plans as early as July this year. Currently, the domestic LED lighting market is sluggish, and the industry generally hopes that subsidy policies can be introduced before the industry off-season arrives in the first quarter of next year to boost the market. The industry has basically reached a consensus that subsidies will be launched as early as the end of this year or by early next year at the latest, but the specific timing of the policy launch had not yet been determined.
Just at the beginning of this month, the NDRC officially released China's roadmap for phasing out incandescent lamps, which once caused the stocks of several LED-concept listed companies to hit the daily limit up. The timing of releasing the LED energy-saving lighting subsidy policy comes precisely when the domestic LED industry is mired in a crisis of upstream overcapacity and a sluggish end market, demonstrating the central government's support for the LED energy-saving lighting industry.
Xie Ji also revealed that an LED lighting "12th Five-Year Plan" development plan is currently being drafted, and the industry is expected to quadruple its output value within five years. Of the seven strategic emerging industries proposed by the state, energy conservation and environmental protection rank first. "Within the energy conservation and environmental protection industry, semiconductor lighting technology, namely LED lighting, will occupy an important part."