100 GW Milestone Achieved, Sungrow Looks To New Horizons for Growth

Hefei, China based Sungrow Power Supply Company (Sungrow) announced a key milestone of 100 GW of cumulative installations for its inverter range this week, before the end of the year 2019. The firm  has a wide offering of inverters for renewable deployment, with sizes ranging from 2.5 KW for rooftops to 6.8 MW for Utility scale deployments.

The 100 GW number is a significant milestone for the firm, which has is one of the more global firms out of China in the renewables sector, with close to 50% of its sales of 16.7 GW in 2018 coming outside China. It has been a particularly strong player in India, where it also set up its first  manufacturing plant outside China. At 3 GW, the plant in Bengaluru, remains the largest single inverter plant in India currently.

Speaking to an international media delegation at its headquarters in Heifei, senior Sungrow executives stressed on the importance of global markets to the firm, and their focus on taking a long term approach to leading in these markets. From establishing dedicated service centres to their own teams, the firm has been focused on  global template that can serve it well for its ambitions. It has been a plan well executed, as the 100GW milestone proves.

Founded by Prof Cao Renxian, a teacher at the Heifei University of Technology, the firm has maintained a strong research focus , with over 35 percent of its 3000 employees involved with research and development. The firm made humble beginnings, with its first order, an $87,000 order from Xinjiang Railway for one solar power supply for a railway signal opening the doors to more.  In 2018, the firm closed with just over $1.5 billion in global revenues.

Now, as a key high-tech enterprise in China, Sungrow specializes in R&D, production, sales, and service of new energy power supply devices for solar energy, wind energy, energy storage, new energy automotive drive systems, floating and land-based PV power plants. In energy storage, the firm can supply both Lithium-ion and Lithium Phosphate batteries from a JV- Sungrow Samsung SDI

Going ahead, the firm sees strong growth potential in the middle east and Sub Sahara areas of Africa,where it expects PV deployments of 3-5 GW in the next 3 years. China, and of course

India, remain central to its growth plans of course. In key developed markets, especially in Europe and Australia, the firm has moved quickly to adapt to new requirements, on areas like data protection and more. In Europe for instance,  data on performance of PV plants run on Sungrow inverters is now stored in Europe based servers only.

The firm’s sprawling  manufacturing facilities at Heifei stand out with its own rooftop solar systems, with total capacity of over 6 MW plus giving a captive test experience to its engineers.

The firm has stood out for its aggressive and innovative marketing among China based firms, and visitors from India will easily recall its extra special stalls and hospitality at major global events. The firm certainly believes in celebrating its milestones, as it did when it hit 3 GW in India earlier this year.