Echelon (ELON) issued a press release today saying that its networked street lighting systems are experiencing rapid adoption in the China market allowing municipalities to decrease their lighting budget while increasing reliability and efficiency.  It’s estimated that 40% of a city’s energy budget goes to street lighting so it’s increasingly becoming a focus for local governments.

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“China is an ideal market for networked, smart street lights,” said Mr. Li Zhiqiang, president and CEO of Rongwen, one of the largest street lighting companies in China. “We installed over 16,000 lights equipped with Echelon PLC transceivers together with the Echelon energy control network platform in 2010 and believe that we have the opportunity to have nearly 500,000 installed by 2014. Echelon’s technology has enabled us to deliver a solution that reduces energy use by 55% and significantly lowers maintenance costs.”

Shares of Echelon are down fractionally today and appear to be carving out a new base after taking out support of the 50 day moving average in recent days.