Twenty-one years ago, China's photovoltaic industry was in its infancy, and the market has not yet opened. Sunshine Power started from two rooms rented on the edge of the bathhouse. After experiencing the booming development of the photovoltaic industry and many rounds of crisis and shuffling, the sun The power supply has grown into a giant in the photovoltaic industry. On November 2, 2011, Sunshine Power was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and became the first domestic new energy power industry. Since its listing, the company's performance has maintained rapid growth, becoming the only one among the old PV companies. Companies that have been profitable for many years have come out of a high-quality development path.
With more than 20 years of focus and persistence, Sunshine Power has achieved multiple breakthroughs from the brutal competition: Developed China's first photovoltaic grid-connected inverter with completely independent intellectual property rights; conversion efficiency from 90% to 99% across the board; price from 5 Yuan/Watt dropped to below 0.2 yuan/W... Since 2015, Sunshine Power has become the world's largest PV inverter shipment company, with a domestic market share of around 30%, ranking first for many years; The foreign market share is about 15%, and has been sold to Germany, Italy, Australia, the United States, Japan and other countries in more than 50 countries.
Nowadays, with the release of the '531' photovoltaic new policy, the rapid development of China's photovoltaic industry in recent years has been stepped on the 'quick brakes'. The photovoltaic industry has once again been pushed to the forefront, how much is the impact of the PV New Deal on the industry? Responding to the rapid growth of the Sunshine Power supply can continue? Recently, the Securities Times 'high-quality development of listed companies in action' interview team went into Sunshine Power, Securities Times executive deputy editor on Monday dialogue Sunshine Power Chairman, President Cao Renxian.
Inverter is the world's number one
Monday: The company was founded 21 years ago. After 7 years of listing, it has taken a development path of speed and quality. What key nodes have been grasped?
Cao Renxian: Sunshine Power has been in its 21st year. This year, we started from a factory of several people, starting from tens of thousands of dollars, and today, we are approaching a scale of nearly 10 billion, with a profit of nearly one billion. Company 2011 After the listing, it is out of the pace of relatively rapid development.Many people often ask, many of the PV companies are ups and downs, fluctuations are very large, many large companies are losing money, and even bankrupt. Why Sunshine Power has not fallen down in 21 years, and also obtained relatively high profits and market share. In fact, it is still up to you to focus on your own profession and expertise. It is not easy to choose a good industry. There is no permanent way to survive in this industry. Once and for all, the business model is not only a matter of luck, but the core is still focused on innovation in clean energy, focusing on customer-oriented, close to customers, doing something different. This 21 years, around cleaning The business center of energy and power electronic conversion technology, after many iterations, multiple innovations and changes, enables the company to survive in a relatively stable and long-term.
Monday: In the field of inverters, is the company the first in the world?
Cao Renxian: Yes, over the years, we have been ranked first in the global and Chinese market share. Twenty years ago, domestic solar inverter equipment was imported, with multinational brands such as Siemens, ABB, Schneider, GE, etc. Through these two decades of hard work, we have really made China's market really. In the past 20 years, we have reduced the cost from five yuan a watt in the year to two cents a watt now, a total reduction of 25 Times, so many projects can use Chinese-made equipment. Therefore, the most obvious driving force for the industry is through technological innovation, through cost reduction, to achieve the most cost-effective, and to achieve stable and reliable operation.
Now, one-third of the world's inverter equipment is operated by solar power, especially a large number of domestic power stations, from large-scale ground power stations in the northwest to rooftop power stations in the east, to home photovoltaics, many of which are Sunshine power supply. At the same time, the company has also promoted the development of the global industry, which has greatly reduced the cost of clean energy access equipment in the world. Some manufacturers, some owners do not use our products, but through our many years of hard work Leading, so that many competitors' products are also greatly reduced in price, so that energy investors and consumers can benefit.
Monday: Has the domestic inverter already defeated the foreign giants and replaced their markets?
Cao Renxian: Yes, the market is definitely a substitute, because we have unique, proprietary technology and capabilities in terms of cost performance, so it is very cheap and cheap. At the same time, its performance has not been compromised. The reliability of our current products Far more than these multinational giants. On the one hand, we have done cheap, cost leadership, and we are also in front of the global in terms of equipment reliability, functional development, interaction, and service.
In the photovoltaic industry, we can proudly say that we are the world's number one and a resounding business card. 80% of the global PV products are from China, 50% of the global market is in China, 70%-80% of the world. The talents, labor, and manufacturing equipment are gradually condensing in China. In essence, China's photovoltaic manufacturing, it should be said that no matter from the front-end polysilicon, single crystal silicon, until the end of the application technology, are the world's first The level of the company's inverter equipment is no exception.
Affordable Internet access in two or three years
Monday: Is the core technology in the hands of the company itself?
Cao Renxian: The company now has more than 1,500 patent applications, and one-third of the R&D personnel have a large investment in R&D expenses. All of the company's technology is derived from independent research and development.
Monday: Does the company have any black technology in its hands?
Cao Renxian: Certainly, we have a technical route for our products, and there are many solutions for replacing fossil energy in a large area in the future. With these few years of efforts, our photovoltaic power generation will soon be able to achieve parity online, just in two or three years. Because of our entire system The cost and technological progress of the end, also benefited from the support of the state and the efforts of the enterprises in the past few years. The trust of investors has made the cost drop very fast. In 2018, China has a power station of 500 megawatts in the northwest. It is the company's cooperation with the Three Gorges Group. Its on-grid price is three cents a penny, three cents per kWh.
Monday: Is it cheaper than thermal power?
Cao Renxian: The benchmark thermal power price there is three cents, so we have achieved or are close to achieving parity in special areas, in areas with very good lighting. In the eastern region, the light is worse, it takes two or three years. But we are already full of confidence. We are not only the components of solar energy and inverter equipment, but also the technology of system optimization. We can guarantee that we will further reduce costs in the next two or three years and let more people use this. clean energy.
Call for green power
Monday: Is there a big gap in PV subsidies, and many subsidies are not in place?
Cao Renxian: Yes, one is that the subsidy is not enough. In fact, according to the Renewable Energy Law, when the subsidy is not enough, the subsidy of one-ninth per kWh should be raised. As a representative of the National People’s Congress, I have proposed that I hope to subsidize one. From nine to three cents, this will solve the problem of subsidy arrears at one time. From my personal point of view, it is necessary to calculate the environmental cost of fossil energy, which truly reflects the cost of our current electricity consumption. .
Enterprises cannot rely on cheap energy to gain competitiveness, but rely on innovation, relying on talents, relying on internationalization, and relying on mass entrepreneurship to innovate. If it is cheap, then this era is gone forever. So I appeal to the vast majority of consumers to try to buy green electricity. Now, like Google, Apple has a strong sense of social responsibility, they are buying green power in China. Green power may be more expensive than conventional power. But this kind of transaction represents a clean energy consumption habit, a kind of social responsibility. At present, this contradiction is more prominent, which leads to insufficient money.
Second, the scale of our renewable energy installations, due to the rapid development of the market, the cost reduction is very fast, the scale is getting bigger and bigger, and it has also been controversial. For example, the current power cut, abandoned light, abandoned wind, etc. We need to work hard to reduce the cost of hardware, the cost of equipment, and also need to enable the whole society to help renewable energy, and finally through the energy storage method can fully achieve 100% cleaning function.
Monday: How much is the subsidy for Sunshine Power in a year?
Cao Renxian: The company is mainly on the equipment side, so there is no subsidy. It is hard to get the equipment done, so that the real subsidies can benefit the final power consumers. This is what we have to do. If you get a lot of subsidies, it is not very good. Proper, because the company does not have such a business model to obtain such a large subsidy.
The new PV strategy has a greater impact
Monday: What impact does the '531 New Deal' have on the industry?
Cao Renxian: The impact is still relatively large. First, consumers do not know enough about clean energy. They feel that the country will no longer support solar and wind energy clean energy. In fact, this is a misunderstanding, a mistake of the consumer and capital markets for the clean energy industry. Read. In fact, the state thinks that the current money is not enough, so to step on the brakes, the industry has to remove some capacity. But many investors think that the country does not support it, it feels that it is better to withdraw earlier, so there is Many people sell stocks, and many people sell their stocks.
The market will shrink somewhat this year, but this is a spiraling process. In this process, we experienced many rounds in 2009 and 2011, which means that we have mastered the learning curve and mastered the skills to deal with the crisis. Overall, Time and time again, the impact on companies, such as our experienced enterprises is getting smaller and smaller.
The key question now is whether the market that everyone cares about will shrink sharply. In fact, it will not, because it is almost close to parity. There are many distributed power stations, industrial and commercial users, and even many family users, basically Can accept such an investment. Some people think that installing such a system at home is also a way to take some social responsibility.
The challenge is to arrange for the market to shrink in this year. At the same time, we must work hard to open up foreign markets, and at the same time, cooperate with some diversified things. For example, electric vehicles, such as services, etc. The goal is still full of confidence.
Monday: From July 7th to 9th, the company hosted the 2018 Photovoltaic Leadership Summit in Huangshan. Many industry leaders exchanged views on this year's industry. How do you feel about the industry mood?
Cao Renxian: From the 531's 'bad news', everyone started to be very angry, very incomprehensible, even including some of our entrepreneurs to put forward some demands, to gradually calm down, and finally how to face it. Our competent authorities are also doing some corrections. Work, some policies can be done better. For example, the year is spring, the policy needs to be adjusted, and it will be adjusted at the beginning of the year. In this case, the company will go through the annual production plan according to the policy. Now there are some things It was stocked and the equipment was supplied for a long time, but suddenly a policy came on May 31, which caused the industry to be caught off guard. Now it is mainly caused by high inventory pressure, which could not be purchased. This is real money.
So support the company, you give a project, give a good one, it is far better to set the policy early, don't wave. Early announced that we will do less this year, there will be no loss. Our company's loss Fortunately, many small and medium-sized enterprises have plunged in, and some tears are not crying.
R&D expenses cannot be reduced
Monday: What measures will the company take next to deal with the PV adjustment period?
Cao Renxian: Open source is the key. The company is now doing a good job in new energy vehicles, in energy storage, and in international market development. The company has floating projects, and the floating projects on the two Huai waters have been very successful; the company's new energy vehicle project, this year It is also rising; the energy storage project has been declining last year, and it has risen sharply this year. This year, the project can achieve sales of 500 million yuan, and it can break through the scale of one billion next year. Even this year, the domestic market has shrunk, the company In terms of the cost reduction of the product and the investment in research and development, the strength is still quite large, and several new products with higher cost performance have also been introduced.
Monday: Will the performance be adjusted?
Cao Renxian: Profit growth may slow down, but our sales revenue target remains unchanged this year. For income over 10 billion, we are still full of confidence. The company's two main business segments: power plant integration and inverter. Inverter has The decline, but the power station system integration is still rising, because the company has reserved some projects, while the power station development has some projects overseas, so this year's entire power station revenue has not decreased, but increased.
Monday: In terms of overseas markets, has the company focused on expanding?
Cao Renxian: The US market will be affected by some, because it threatens to impose a 10% import tariff on China's 200 billion US dollars of goods, which will have some impact on us, because this 10% is just our profit. So, if it is done, there will be no profit. Even so, the company is ready to do. We need to know how difficult it is to survive in this kind of adversity. It can't always impose a 10% tax, we just wait for the day it doesn't. We have this patience, and there are ways to further reduce costs, even if you levy a 10% tax, you can still sell it to you.
For the US market, I am now committed to the consumer, even if the 10% tariff is imposed, the price I sell to you is the same. Now it is such a promise to send out. Commit to the customer, regardless of the levy or not, we will not change the price. At the same time, the company's factories in India also need to produce products for export to other countries as soon as possible. This is also a coping strategy.
Monday: What is the proportion of overseas market revenue in the future?
Cao Renxian: At least 40% of our total income, so that we can truly resist a variety of risks. The current ratio is about 15%, the goal is to reach 40% in 5 years.
Really going global, the core is talent. Now the company has more than 100 foreign employees. The overseas team is still relatively strong. In fact, we are really going to overseas markets, which is stronger than most Chinese companies. The company is in the United States, Germany, Japan, India, the Middle East and other places have built R & D centers or sales bases.
Incubation and light storage integration project
Monday: The inverter market share has accounted for more than 30%. How much space does this industry have in the future?
Cao Renxian: If the global production capacity is 150 GW in the next year, there will be a 50% increase in this space. In the future, with new energy vehicles, with the combination of energy storage, the integration of conventional energy sources, etc., at the end of energy and energy Some new Internet formats, such as connected technologies, contract energy management and contract power generation management, have seen some growth in service revenue, and some income from smart energy has increased. For example, participating in virtual power generation, participating in wall sales (distributed power) Nearly sales of electricity), the company is also a department is doing this, there will be some growth.
Monday: Is it possible to incubate a new section?
Cao Renxian: Now I mainly want to incubate the optical storage, that is, to achieve continuous supply of solar energy for 24 hours, then it is necessary to realize the problem of energy storage at night. The problem of energy storage at night is now a lot of problems, the company has a special The team is vigorously developing. At 7 o'clock in the morning, when the sun has not come out, we can also supply solar energy, truly realize the independence of energy, even combine with fuel cells, and combine with other clean energy. Through market-oriented operation, we ensure that this clean energy can be shared as much as possible. The company is constantly investing in the energy Internet, optical storage integration.
Monday: How do you see the performance of the company's stock price this year, can you give investors some confidence?
Cao Renxian: I am very grateful to investors for their concern for the company. One is due to the impact of the 531 policy, and the other is the impact of the national environment. The stock price has dropped significantly. But I am full of confidence in the company. I have not sold it for so many years. A penny of stocks, and when our employees held shares last year, they also increased their holdings of more than 9 million shares.
As a company that has long-term operations, as a company with a strong mission, the company can only further strengthen its value through its hard work and diligent operation through its own efforts, and the company's performance is further expanded. The stock price is not good to comment, but for the company itself, I am full of confidence.
Monday: Please say a few words to the company's tens of thousands of shareholders.
Cao Renxian: Thank you very much! Shareholders! Sunshine Power has been recognized by everyone since its listing. Although the environment has changed a lot, the policy has changed. I want investors to believe in our management team. I believe that our Sunshine Power will be able to manage the company. , do the product well, and do the service well.