If Taiwan could overhaul its luminaires with energy-saving LED devices, the nation would be able to save about 10 billion kilowatts per hour (kWh) of electricity a year, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) forecast on Friday.
A reduction of 10 billion kWh in power consumption is equivalent to 24 percent of the 41.6 billion kWh of electricity generated by the country’s three operational nuclear power plants last year, the market researcher said.
“Pragmatically, it is impossible for all the lighting fixtures in Taiwan to be retrofitted with LEDs right now,” Roger Chu (儲余超), an analyst at TrendForce’s LED market research division, said in the report. “However, solely by increasing the proportion of LED lighting used in the nation, Taiwan could diminish its reliance on nuclear energy.”
Chu’s remarks come amid a national debate over nuclear energy, as both pro and anti-nuclear activists are seeking a referendum to decide the fate of the controversial Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City.
On Sunday, the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government agreed to halt the construction of the nearly completed nuclear power plant.
The energy consumption of Taiwan’s lighting sector reached about 22 billion kWh last year, according to TrendForce.
Reproducing total consumption by approximately 11.9 billion kWh, or 45 percent, is achievable if the domestic, commercial, industrial and residential lighting sectors all convert from traditional incandescent bulbs, halogen lamps, high pressure sodium lights and metal halides, to LEDs, the market researcher added.
TrendForce predicted that global LED bulb demand would increase 86 percent annually this year, while demand for LED lighting tubes may rise by 89 percent over the same period.
The global LED lighting market is forecast to see a compound annual growth rate of 39 percent from last year to 2016, as the outdoor, commercial and residential start to blossom, Macquarie Securities said in a report on April 16.
Chu said that if Taiwan applies more LED luminaires in its residential, industrial, commercial and public lighting, the benefits could create a healthier energy structure.
Currently, nuclear power plays a basic supply role in the national energy structure, accounting for about 18 percent of total power supplies, while solar energy is confined to a supporting role because of technical and environmental limitations.
While it is still difficult for photovoltaics energy to replace atomic power, and there is no quick answer to the nuclear power question, Taiwan should encourage investments in “green” energy and pay more attention to biofuels, geothermal energy and other renewable sources of power, Chu said.
"Taiwan should seek to develop LED lighting subsidies and industry promotional projects," with the aim of raising its LED lighting penetration rate to from 22 to 50 percent over the short term, he said.
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