At present, China's PV module production capacity has reached more than 70% of the world. The launch of the domestic PV market has limited significance for overcapacity and global market-based battery and module plants. The inverter industry is different. China's inverter companies have a global market share of about 3%, and about 50% in China. The rapid growth of China's PV terminal applications is for inverter companies with domestic market as the main market. It is a lot of new demand. With the rapid development of the photovoltaic industry, the inverter industry has also achieved rapid growth.

Taking into account the decline in inverter prices and the growth of future installed capacity, OFweek Industry Research Center estimates that the global inverter industry's market capacity in 2011 will reach 36 billion yuan, of which the domestic market will reach 2 billion yuan, 2012-2015 In the year, the global inverter market has reached a total of 160 billion yuan, of which the domestic total can reach about 16 billion yuan.

In 2011, SolarMax, a world-renowned inverter brand, announced its entry into the Chinese PV market. SolarMax is from Switzerland and was established in 1991. It is the world's leading manufacturer of grid-connected solar inverters. For the fast-growing Chinese PV market, SolarMax will surely bring vigorous development momentum, and high-performance SolarMax products will also be favored by Chinese customers.

At the SENC exhibition, Mr. Li Bo, General Manager of SolarMax China, and Mr. Andrè Lüthi, Head of SolarMax Technical Sales Support, were invited to conduct an exclusive interview on corporate development and related hot issues.

Andrè Lüthi, Head of SolarMax Technical Sales Support

Q: Since 2011, the photovoltaic industry has entered the winter overnight, many companies have stopped production or even went bankrupt, and many companies have fled the once “violent” industry, while SolarMax has contrarian to enter the Chinese market where the photovoltaic industry is developed. Why do you consider entering the Chinese market? What is the starting point?

Solarmax: The company has seen that the development of the photovoltaic industry in Europe has not been so good in the past two years. We have entered the markets of Bulgaria and Greece, and now the company has recruited new employees. In the future, we need to explore emerging markets, and China is a very market-leading market in emerging markets. All of us are willing to invest in China.

Q: We know that SolarMax centralized inverter has recently obtained China's "Golden Sun" certification, which also means that SolarMax can legally sell in China, and to some extent, it can also receive state subsidies. However, for the current PV inverter market in China, the dominant player is the Chinese manufacturer. Because the price of PV inverters in the Chinese market is much lower than that of the global market, SolarMax is in the global inverter industry. What is the advantage?

Solarmax: SolarMax has a high reputation in Europe, but when it comes to China, it needs to promote the brand. The advantage is that we have a deep understanding of this industry, because we have 25 years of experience; we have a large number of competitive talents and good equipment, can support the pre-sale, sale, after-sales; we still have An excellent team like Andre to support the Chinese market.

China is a large-scale market, not only a product competition, but also technical support and service support. Although our current products are produced in Switzerland, we will try our best to approach the Chinese market price, improve some of the value-added technical services, and try to maximize the cost performance of our products. In a long-term way, we will take advantage of a technology package to reduce operating costs and maintenance costs, so that the product will get the maximum revenue ratio and return rate after 25 or 30 years. Like we have been using a machine in Switzerland for 25 years, it is still in use, and this is where I am very proud.

SolarR Technology Sales Support Leader Andrè Lüthi (Right) General Manager of SolarMax China (耿 2)

Q: SolarMax has always been committed to the development, production and sales of solar inverters, while also providing suitable solutions for system monitoring. Does your company have any plans to expand into other areas, such as wind energy and power industry?

Solarmax: At present, we are not planning to develop in this area, or focus on our current PV industry and product development.

Q: As far as the entire photovoltaic industry is concerned, there is a US “double-reverse” investigation on Chinese PV products. Then Germany and Italy are in the midst of opposition and have reduced their subsidies for solar products. China's PV companies are undoubtedly "blockbusters". How do you view the "double-reverse" investigation initiated by the United States and the reduction plans of European countries? Will these events have a greater impact on your company in the European and American markets?

Solarmax: At present, China does have some trade friction with the United States in this PV industry, but we are a Swiss company and will not be affected by these environmental conditions. We continue to develop in line with the philosophy and corporate culture of our company. Continuously improve product advantages and avoid being affected by this market.

Wuxi Juxingyao Trading Co., Ltd , https://www.juxingyao.com