CASE STUDY

CS112 Thailand Launches Ambitious Street Lighting Project Case Study ©2015 Lumileds Holding B.V. All rights reserved.

Thailand Launches

Ambitious Street

Lighting Project

Challenge

Replace existing high pressure sodium

(HPS) lamps with LED streetlights that

meet strict specifications for quality

of light and reliability issued by the

Bangkok government.

Solution

Forth developed and manufactured

ECO-ONE and ECO-TWO fixtures for

residential areas and highways —

LED streetlights that consume 110W

and produce the same output (11,000

lumens) as the 250W HPS lamps

they replace. The LEDs used in these

fixtures, LUXEON Z ES and LUXEON

T/TX emitters, provide high flux and

high efficacy for neutral white (5000K)

illumination.

Benefits

Near-zero maintenance and improved

light quality on highways. Feedback

from residents indicated a feeling of

improved safety due to better color

rendering index (CRI>70) with LEDs

relative to HPS (CRI=20).

Results

The Thailand government is saving 5

million Baht annually in maintenance

cost and has determined that the

streetlights will pay for themselves in

2 years.

The government of Thailand plans on replacing legacy light fixtures in Bangkok with

over 400,000 LED streetlights, providing an energy savings of 70%. Forth streetlights

using Lumileds high-power LEDs were chosen for the project due to their high flux,

high efficacy and reliability.

A few years ago, Bangkok installed LED traffic signals throughout the city and realized

the many benefits of LEDs, including long life and a rapid payback period. In 2014, the

Thailand government decided that the high maintenance cost of legacy streetlights

warranted an investigation into LED replacements, provided that its strict specifications

for light quality and reliability could be met.

Customer Challenge

Bangkok, a city of 9 million people, installed LED traffic signals in 2003. Realizing the

benefits of the traffic signals in terms of their high reliability and very low maintenance,

the government was curious to see if LED streetlights also would prove to be a solid

investment. Maintenance of high pressure sodium (HPS) lamps was costing 5 million

Baht annually and they were replaced every 3 years. In pedestrian areas, HPS lighting

was generally considered insufficient and even unsafe in some cases — another

incentive to switch to LED lighting.

“Forth streetlights with LUXEON Z ES and LUXEON T and

TX LEDs met the government’s specifications for light

quality and reliability, while also delivering lamps with a

two-year payback period.”

— Matinee Wandeepirom

Director, Forth Corporation Public

Company