On 22-23 March , the “All Quality Matters” 2018 Solar Congress hosted by TÜV Rheinland was staged in Wuxi, Jiangsu. At the Congress, reporters from Energy Trend of Trend Force discussed with Zhang Yong, CEO of SMA China, issues such as the domestic and overseas inverter markets and the distributed system inverter market.

Zhang Yong, CEO of SMA China

There is a clear difference between domestic and overseas PV markets in terms of scale and product demand, and Zhang Yong believes many factors account for the differences between the domestic and overseas inverter markets. First, the scales of the markets are different. Recent developments have led China to become the largest PV market worldwide. The newly added installed capacity of China in the previous year exceeded half of the worldwide installed capacity. Second, there is a difference in the demands of buyers. In terms of the market structure, overseas clients may place more importance on product technology capacity, guaranteed quality, finance and the financing capacity, after-sales service and the guarantees of inverter producers. In the Chinese market, however, as subsidies are reduced, many clients put too much emphasis on the price of inverters. However, this situation is improving in many ways.

As an inverter producer in China with a 37-year history, SMA is well positioned in China as part of its early development. This, along with its highly efficient team and its advantages of low-cost production, enables it to address the demands and challenges of the global market. In addition, SMA will build on its past achievements and increase its number of product lines and implement its self-positioning digitalised energy and energy management strategy.

The recently released Distributed PV Power Generation Project Regulations promise the full development of the domestic household PV market in 2018. Faced with this situation, Zhang Yong commented that the Chinese PV market has great potential, and now that it receives concentrated national policy support, SMA is paying close attention. With over 30 years in the business, SMA has developed complete household PV system product lines. SMA will, in accordance with the characteristics of the Chinese market, proactively and swiftly devise appropriate responses to the rapidly developing Chinese household PV inverter market. In addition, SMA will  strongly market its new products in 2018 so that domestic household consumers will learn more about SMA’s corporate culture, products and brand.

As the bidding power prices of the third batch of pacemakers hit new lows in 2017, grid parity appears to be in sight. What implications does this wave of low prices have for inverters, a very important link in PV power generation? Zhang Yong said that inverters took up a very small proportion of a power plant’s total costs. There is limited scope to further optimise the conversion efficiency of inverters, while cost optimisation will translate into the optimisation of new technologies and new designs. We will also optimise the profit margins of inverters through these methods. What is more important is that we must ensure the stable use of inverters and reduce follow-up maintenance costs. Reducing the follow-up maintenance costs is the most effective boost to grid parity for PV power generation. Product quality will remain central to this field.

PV is one of the key industries improving international and domestic energy transformation. Over more than a decade, PV has developed into an emerging, internationally competitive strategic industry. It serves as a shining example of successful industry in our country. Against this background, Zhang Yong believes that TÜV Rheinland has premier testing methods and testing procedures along with a deep understanding of products and requirements of related Chinese and overseas laws and regulations. Specific cooperation with TÜV Rheinland in these fields has greatly benefited SMA. This cooperation is also important for SMA’s participation in Chinese and overseas markets. The cooperation between SMA and TÜV Rheinland has achieved a win-win outcome.