China has become the world’s largest manufacturer and market for PV power generation equipment with Chinese PV players playing a leading role in the segments of polysilicon, wafers, cells, modules, plants and inverters in the whole supply chain. Why has China’s PV industry been able to develop so quickly? The answer could be found from the remarks of executives of the “global leading” company.
Seraphim’s global module capacity has reached 5GW at present, comprising 4250MW of domestic installations, 750MW of overseas capacity and 500MW for cells. Seraphim is a very interesting company, with the majority of its products being sold outside China.
Seraphim president Polaris Li said, “Globalization strategy is the foundation to keep our leadership. Our team is very familiar with oversea markets and how to do business there due to our international study and work experience. So from the very start, Seraphim’s focus is on the foreign market.”
Every year Seraphim will grade and divide the global market into three categories according to capacity forecasts and local market history, and based on this data, global business layout, key sales areas for the year can be identified.
Commenting on market changes over the past few years, Polaris Li said, “The market is changing little by little, it’s not like two or three years ago when only price matters. For example, many low quality and brandless modules were sold into Australia in the past. But now, from raw material procurement to the complete cycle of module production, quality and efficiency are becoming the new focuses. Many poor quality makers of a smaller scale who are unable to conform to stricter standards are being driven out of the market.”
It is reported that Seraphim has supplied modules to Australia’s largest smart solar farm. The smart module produced by Seraphim can enable up to 1.5x more modules per string, thanks to its voltage-limiting feature, which will significantly reduce costs and make it more suitable for large power plants and commercial projects.
“The Australian market is witnessing a fast growth over the past two years, with large scale public utilities soaring to the point of surpassing residential installations. The new PV installations in 2018 reached 3.7GW in Australia and 4.7GW is expected to be installed this year, of which more than 70% will be public facilities.”Li said.
Polaris Li also mentioned an interesting product they have specially invented for Australian market, a solar collar with a GPS chip inserted inside. This collar could monitor cattle, sheep, and goat flocks’ living habits and prevent them from getting lost. According to Li, they have set up an internal “Plus Solar” team which is directly led by their CTO to explore more about the application of solar products, to make them competitive.
