Why does led grow lighting system “slow down “in market now?
According to LEDinside research, thanks to the promotion of national policies and the mass introduction of LED grow lighting equipment into the North American Medical and entertainment marijuana cultivation market, the global LED plant grow lighting market showed explosive growth in 2020, with an output value of US $301 million, an annual increase of 57%.
This wave of growth momentum will continue to the first half of 2021, from chip to package to terminal. However, since the second half of 2021, LED red chips for plants have been in short supply due to the market demand for automotive and infrared LEDs, especially in high-end chips.
At the same time, the supply of power supply IC is still out of stock, the delay of shipping schedule and the crackdown on indoor marijuana growers in North America also affect the performance of terminal product shipment, which makes some led plant grow light system manufacturers start to slow down their production plans and material preparation.
Led plant grow light is very different from traditional lighting, mainly in terms of use scenarios, performance and technology, which also makes led plant grow lighting have a high industry threshold. Among them, the difference between technology research and development and other lighting products mainly lies in the design of light formula.
In terms of chips, plant grow light products mainly focus on photosynthetic photon efficacy PPFD/ photosynthetic photon flux PPF. Customers have different requirements for chip performance for different purposes. Led plant lighting requires the chip to have higher light efficiency and higher reliability.
The difference between plant lighting and traditional lighting is that plant grow lighting is more in line with the growth characteristics of plants. It needs to be considered from the perspective of optics. It should not only match the needs of different plants for PPE/PPFD, but also adjust the spectral formula in combination with the growth of plants at different stages. In this regard, Guoxing optoelectronics is also at the forefront of the market and has a professional plant growth laboratory, At the same time, there is also a spectral database simulating plant growth.
Plant grow lighting is generally based on high-power and high luminous efficiency products, which requires enterprises to accumulate LED packaging technology for a long time. At the same time, customers have high requirements for the service life of LED plant lighting products, and the products need 3-10 years of quality assurance.
From the demand side, why does led plant grow lighting suddenly cool down. This is mainly reflected in two aspects:
1. Although plant grow lights products are widely used at present, there is no large-scale demand for plant lighting in other planting fields except industrial cannabis. In addition, in the second half of 2021, in addition to the two external factors of lack of cores (power supply IC) and shipping schedule, the crackdown on indoor cannabis illegal growers in North America has also affected the performance of terminal product shipments to a certain extent.
Second, the recognition and acceptance of LED grow lights technology by terminal growers have reached a high level, but there are still three key problems in LED plant lighting:
1. cost. The one-time investment in LED plant grow light is high, and in the later operation, the electricity charge will become an important part of the expenditure proportion of terminal growers. The contradiction between the increase of short-term costs and long-term benefits has become the main concern of terminal growers.
2. crop quality. The use of LED plant grow lighting does not necessarily mean the improvement of quality for crops.
3. intelligence. Including light source, air environment, nutrient solution, plant growth, etc., plant lighting has a strong demand for intelligent regulation. However, whether in the greenhouse or in the plant factory, the intelligent degree of LED plant lighting still needs to be improved. The existing facilities still need a certain number of personnel to participate in the operation, which indirectly increases the investment cost of LED plant lighting.
In a word, it will take some time for plant lighting to become the normal state of agricultural production.