Designer consortium releases new technical requirements for horticultural lighting

A new version of the Horticultural Lighting Technical Lighting of the Designer Consortium (DLC), which was published today, strengthens the efforts to improve the effectiveness and quality of the LED products used in the COE industry (Controled Environment Agriculture).

The new requirements of the DLC on April 18, 2025 take place at a time of growth in the CEA sector. The global CEA market worth 7.8 billion US dollars in the previous year and, according to a market research report in February 2025, extends a composed annual growth rate of 12.2% and is expected to achieve $ 22 billion by 2033. Since the lighting is one of the largest operating costs in CEA facilities, there are considerable options for increasing energy efficiency and cost savings with the right lights.

“CEA is heated up in many states through the demand for locally produced foods and the legalization of cannabis cultivation and has grown consistently since the start of our horticultural lighting program in 2018,” says Christina Halfpenny. “The effectiveness and quality requirements for the devices in our list of horticultural qualified products (QPL) have also increased steadily. Hort V4.0 continues this trend to promote energy -efficient technology in order to achieve energy savings and support decarbonization goals. “

The gardening technical requirements of the DLC are based on the at least the gardening requirements of the DLC on the minimal power thresholds for horticultural LED lines. Since the DLC started his horticultural lighting program, the average effectiveness of the listed products has increased by almost 25%. In the meantime, the list itself has increased an annual rate of more than 102%. From February 2025, the Hort QPL will comprise more than 1,200 products from more than 130 manufacturers.

V4.0, which was published in November 2024 as a draft for Stakeholder comments, is the product of the cooperation of many stakeholders in the horticultural industry. The technical requirements support the acceleration of energy -efficient lighting in CEA with three important updates:

• Increasing photosynthesis photon effectiveness (PSA) threshold of DLC-listed horticultural products compared to HORT V3.0, which are at least 45% more efficient than the most efficient option non-lumicultural lighting option, double, double, double-pressed, printed Sodium-Luminaire-Lumaire;
• Removing lamps as categories that are entitled to list to QPL list -a decision based on low application numbers in lamp categories and without comments during the design period V4.0 in which the maintenance of the LAMP authorization is requested; And
• Explanations on various requirements, including certain requirements for product tests and definitions of the most important terminology.

The horticultural lighting manufacturers currently on the QPL are requested to start applications for updating V3.0 to V4.0 listings from April 18, 2025.

The DLC is confident that this latest version of its technical requirements will help to accelerate the widespread introduction of LED technology, which is both energy -efficient and optimal for cultivation in CEA facilities. For more information, see the full guidelines here and register for an information webinar for the transition from V3.0 to V4.0 on March 25th.