Sungrow (also known as Sungrow Power Supply ; Chinese: 阳光电源; pinyin: Yángguāng Diànyuán) is a publicly listed Chinese solar photovoltaic (PV) inverter manufacturing company headquartered in Hefei, Anhui.

Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd.
Sungrow
Native name
阳光电源股份有限公司
Company typePublic
SZSE: 300274
IndustryPhotovoltaics
Founded1997; 27 years ago (1997)
Founders
  • Cao Renxian
HeadquartersHefei, Anhui, China
Key people
  • Cao Renxian (Chairman and President)
RevenueIncrease CN¥72.25 billion (2023)
Increase CN¥9.61 billion (2023)
Total assetsIncrease CN¥51.27 billion (2023)
Total equityIncrease CN¥26.31 billion (2023)
Number of employees
13,697 (2023)
Websitesungrowpower.com Edit this at Wikidata
Footnotes / references
[1]

Background

edit

Cao Renxian was a teacher at Hefei University of Technology. Dissatisfied with his job, in 1997 at the age of 30 Cao resigned from his position to start his own business in renewable energy despite his peers dissuading him as he had only just gotten married. Cao saved 80,000 yuan and obtained 500,00 yuan from friends and relative to start the business.[2][3]

When the business first started, renewable energy was only in its infancy stage and therefore Sungrow could only make traditional established products rather than developing ones. It encountered obstacles due to the weather. The turning point came in 2002 when the Chinese government started a solar energy project to brings electricity to remote villages in Northwestern China. Sungrow participated in the project which allowed it to rapidly develop.[2][3]

Due to the 2007–2008 financial crisis, photovoltaic power stations had financing difficulties and support in European countries suddenly stopped leading to a decline in industry demand. In 2011, China's photovoltaic production had excess capacity leading to drop in prices for materials and components. However Sungrow went against the trend wheres its profit increased tenfold between 2008 and 2011.[2]

In November 2011, Sungrow held its initial public offering and became a listed company on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.[3]

Sungrow has played a significant role in Targeted Poverty Alleviation via photovoltaics. In April 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Anhui province and affirmed Sungrow's contribution to the project.[2]

In 2017, Sungrow built the Sungrow Huainan Solar Farm which at the time was the largest floating solar farm in the world. It produced enough energy to power 15,000 homes which was double capacity of the solar farm (built by Xinyi Solar) previously considered the world's biggest.[4]

In August 2018, Sungrow opened a factory in Bangalore, India. This would be its largest solar inverter manufacturing base built overseas.[2]

In July 2023, The Australian reported concerns on how Sungrow which had links to the Chinese Government was one of the largest suppliers in the Australian solar inverter market.[5]

In March 2024, Sungrow surpassed its rival LONGi Green Energy Technology as the world's most valuable solar sector company. Sungrow benefited from China's boom in battery-storage capacity leading to higher revenues.[6]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "2023 Annual Report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 June 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e 陈, 文斌 (8 August 2018). "穿越多轮行业危机 阳光电源逆势而上更阳光 _ 证券时报网". www.stcn.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  3. ^ a b c 火星商业 (21 April 2022). "大跌268亿,阳光电源雪崩背后". www.huxiu.com. Archived from the original on 2 June 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  4. ^ Zheng, Sarah (2 June 2017). "China flips the switch on world's biggest floating solar farm". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on 2 June 2024. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  5. ^ Stewart, Cameron (21 July 2023). "China's spy threat to our solar energy grid". The Australian.
  6. ^ Murtaugh, Dan (26 March 2024). "Sungrow Ousts Longi as World's Most Valuable Solar Energy Firm". Bloomberg News.
edit