Horticulture lighting has rapidly evolved from a niche application to one of the fastest-growing sectors in the lighting industry, driven by falling technology costs, improved efficiency, and broader use in greenhouses, vertical farms, floriculture, and even facilities producing plant-based vaccines. The global horticulture lighting market is growing at about 12% per year and could reach roughly $22 billion by 2033, making it an attractive area for both manufacturers and rebate-focused projects.
A major driver of this growth is the shift from high-intensity discharge (HID) lamps to LED horticulture fixtures, which typically use 20–45% less energy and generate less waste heat, reducing operating costs and improving growing conditions. LEDs can be tuned to specific wavelengths to influence plant processes, such as using red light for germination and stem growth and blue light for root development and flowering, which can increase yields and product quality.
To ensure product quality and support utility incentives, the DesignLights Consortium (DLC) created a horticulture-specific Qualified Products List, and in 2025 released version 4.0 of its technical requirements. This update raises the photosynthetic photon efficacy threshold, removes retrofit lamps, clarifies certain technical criteria, and has contributed to a 24.9% increase in the average efficacy of listed products since version 1.0, with more than 800 fixtures now meeting version 4.0 requirements.
LED horticultural lighting offers large energy-savings potential; a U.S. Department of Energy analysis suggests that converting all horticulture lighting to LED could cut sector energy use by 34%, saving roughly $350 million annually. This opportunity has encouraged utilities to expand rebate programs, and now about 55% of the United States is covered by an active horticulture lighting rebate.
Rebate structures have evolved as the market has matured. Initially, about two-thirds of horticulture rebates were custom, based on calculated energy savings, which made projecting and filing rebates complex. Today, 53% of rebates are prescriptive and calculated on a per-fixture basis, with the second most common approach being incentives based on kilowatt-hours saved.
Rebate amounts vary significantly by region and project type. On average, custom horticulture rebates are about $0.21 per kWh saved, with a range from $0.02 to $0.65, representing roughly a 60% increase since 2020. Prescriptive rebates average $136 per fixture but can range from about $15 to $525 depending on fixture type and utility, illustrating both the strength and variability of incentives across North America.
New construction horticulture projects can also qualify for incentives, though they are harder to evaluate than retrofits because there is no existing baseline energy usage. Unlike general lighting, horticulture fixtures are not designed for standard watts-per-square-foot metrics, so each program often uses its own method for calculating savings and rebate eligibility for new builds.
When pursuing horticultural lighting rebates, use DLC Horticulture Listed products and ensure the exact model is currently listed on the DLC site, obtain rebate pre-approval before committing to a project, check program funding levels due to potential budget changes or depletion, and confirm that the specific application is eligible, since some programs exclude certain crops such as cannabis and generally require a commercial electric account.
More than 175 horticulture lighting rebate programs now exist across North America, giving most projects a good chance of qualifying for incentives. More information is available here.
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