What you need to know about solar PV energy in Asia

Find out what the speakers at the 4th China Solar Energy Technology and Investment Congress tackled last March 8-9.

According to a release, solar photovoltaic energy has gradually immersed itself onto the forefront of the world’s energy stage due to its fine qualities of being unpolluted, sustainable and rich in storage. Latest reports show that the Chinese government has increased the country’s target for PV installations from 5GW to 10GW by 2015. Furthermore, their installation targets for 2020 have shot up to 50GW from 20GW.

The 4th China Solar Energy Technology and Investment Congress took place on the 8th and 9th of March at the Traders Fudu Hotel, Changzhou, China. In attendance was around 110 government officials, experts and scholars, senior executives, and professionals who gathered together to discuss the growth of the solar energy industry. “Very good presentations and excellent delegates.” Kiran Energy

One of the first speakers on day one was Alan Rosling the Chairman of Kiran Energy; his presentation was based on solar energy development in India. He described to the delegates how India’s energy supply is lagging in terms of economic growth resulting in a significant power deficit. He pointed out that India is primarily dependant on coal fired thermal power for electricity generation, which means there is a high potential for solar energy development in India. His speech was highly detailed and the delegates appreciated his informative knowledge on the National Solar Missions, State Solar Policies and Regulatory Framework of Indian solar industry. In the last part of his speech, he introduced Kiran Energy to the delegates and showed their projects causing a lot interest amongst the delegates who asked him a number of questions after his presentation.

He was shortly followed by Gao Jifan, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar. His presentation was highly anticipated by all the delegates and he did not disappoint! He spoke to the delegates about the initial worldwide development of the PV industry and mentioned how Trina Solar actively work with partners in the industry during the time of a price clash across the value chain. He went on to speak about the challenges that the PV industry is facing and that the most important thing is innovation. Furthermore, he gave some examples concerningTrina Solar, the problems they are facing and how they will deal with them. At the end of his presentation he gave some outlook on the regional market worldwide. 

In the afternoon of day one Rong Gang, Founder and General Manager of Suntrix Solar spoke in regards to the challenges and opportunities of CPV in China and gave the delegates a general idea of Suntrix including its history, current position and products. He also introduced HCPV, the third-generation of photovoltaic technology and explained how it works, what’s it advantages and which companies are focusing this area. After his presentation he answered a number of questions from the inquisitive delegates. “Well prepared, topics have covered a wide range of the industry, well organized and good effect.” LUX Research

Day two of the event commenced with David Itskhokine the Technology Leader for Solar Euromed and he gave an excellent presentation on CSP technologies worldwide, introducing the basic principles. He went on to talk about the global outlook of CSP, looking at the roadmap for solar technologies and complementarities between PV & CSP. He finished his presentation by speaking about Solar Euromed.

Also on the morning of day two, Federico Tabja Trade Commissioner for ProChile Shanghai took to the stage and spoke about the advantages and opportunities of Chile. During his presentation he said that electricity demand is set to double every 10 years and gave us a table to show the demand projections. The remainder of his speech was based on the framework for solar energy and other sources of renewable energy in Chile. Other great speakers on day two of the event included Jan Napiorkowski, Senior Risk Analyst for Munich Reinsurance HK. He spoke about green tech solutions and the availability of a wide range of solutions for the renewable energy sector. He also spoke in regards to solar performance warranty insurance for parks and made some comparisons. He ended his speech by showing the delegates the market trends and outlook for renewable energy financing.

Day two came to a close with a speech from the conference Chairman Zhun Ma who is an Analyst for LUX research. Firstly, he did a market size and demand overview and stated that commercial market is the foundation of the solar industry. He pointed out that Japan, China, India and U.S are gaining ground on Europe. The delegates found his presentation highly interesting especially when he talked about the solar supply tracker and how Asian share continues to rise in production across the entire value chain. At the end of his speech he informed delegates of the cost of goods sold and optimization of performance.

Other notable speakers at the conference included Siemens who gave two presentations at the event. The first one being ’Plant Wide Integrated Solutions” for Solar industry from Stefan LAIS, Senior Manager of Solar & Glass for Siemens and his presentation was divided into two parts. The first part concentrated on high quality polysilicon production and the second part on highly reliable factory management control solutions. He also gave the delegates an interesting us and overview of Siemens in glass and solar. The delegates enjoyed his presentation very much and particularly found his introduction of plant-wide integrated solutions both for polysilicon and for solar and semiconductor fabs interesting.

Uwe Beikufner, Senior Business Development Manager delivered the second Siemen’s presentation. His presentation was based on ‘Solutions for Solar Machine Builders and Solar Production Lines’ and informed delegates of the fact that huge investments in renewable energy technology can generate great business opportunities. H also introduced Siemens tradition and expertise in the solar energy and the delegates were impressed by his detail and listened to him intently.

New introductions and innovations came from Zao Monocrystal, Ivan Umrikhin, Technical Support Engineer who firstly introduced Monocrystal, its products and company history. He then went on to inform the delegate s about AI pastes which are the key factors for rear side passivation quality of screen printed solar cells as well as new monocrystal products for conventional design cells. At the end of the presentation he pointed out that AI pastes of Monocrystal provides the customers with the opportunity of manufacturing cost effective green solar energy. “It is meaningful to hold such an event.” Canadian Solar

Also on day one of the conference a panel discussion occurred about the ‘Future Developments of China’s Solar Industry’. The panel included Dai Yuan, Meng Xiangan, Alan Rosling, Shi Dinghuan, and Gao Jifan. They discussed about how government policies, manufactures strategies and developers from outside China effect the challenging situation in China’s solar industry. “Very helpful to be educated about the industry.” Suntrix Solar

Noppen would like to extend a special thanks to all the excellent speakers at the event including Karlheinz Brust, Technical Director of Krempel Gmbh, Kay Rehberg, Managing Director of, Decker Anlagenbau GmbH and Chen Xiaogao Manager of Product of Samil Power Co. Ltd, Zhang Lingjun, Vice President of Canadian Solar Inc, JIA Yangang, Director of China Electric Equipment Nanjing Solar Research Institute and Xie Xiaotuo, Presidentof Sky Solar New Energy Institute.

Also a special thanks to our 4th China Solar Energy Technology and Investment Congress sponsors Krempel, Decker, ASM, Banner-ever, Samil Power, Munich RE, Siemens, Wemhoener and Rehm.