Oct. 24 (Bloomberg) — Wuxi Suntech Power Co., the solar
manufacturer acquired earlier this year by Shunfeng Photovoltaic
International Ltd., plans to ship almost twice as many modules
this year, in the latest sign of a rebound.
“A lot of rumors said, ’Suntech is dead.’ But we were
here,” Chief Executive Officer Eric Luo said today in a
telephone interview.
The Wuxi, China-based company, bought by Shunfeng for 3
billion yuan ($490 million), may ship 1.5 gigawatts of modules
this year, Luo said. That’s up from 800 megawatts last year. One
gigawatt has already been shipped and production is approaching
the 2 gigawatts produced by the company in 2011 when Suntech was
the world’s largest producer.
“We’re hoping it’ll spike in the next two and half
months,” Luo said.
More than one-quarter of those shipments will be to Japan,
the world’s second-largest market according to data compiled by
Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Japan may install more than 13
gigawatts of capacity in 2015, second only to an estimated 15
gigawatts in China, the London-based researcher forecasts.
Suntech has only “one or two” major customers in China
because “we won’t participate in the price war,” Luo said.
“We will not compromise our quality at the cost of our
customers.”
Solar producers are benefiting from strong demand in China,
Japan and North America this year. Yingli Green Energy Holding
Co., the world’s biggest solar-module maker, in August forecast
shipments will rise as much as 18 percent from a year earlier to
3.8 gigawatts.
“Suntech’s brand still has a place in the international
market,” Han Qiming, a Shanghai-based analyst from SWS Research
Co., said by phone.
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Iain Wilson