L R AS Published on Tuesday 7 June 2022 - n° 407 - Categories:the manufacturers
Interview with LONGi Vice President Europe, Ms Gulnara Abdullina
Interview with LONGi's Vice President Europe, Ms Gulnara Abdullina
The supply of panels Demand is exploding and the supply of key components is insufficient. LONGi says it can deliver panels, inverters and batteries immediately.
The customer would probably receive them at the end of the third quarter or perhaps the beginning of the fourth quarter. This is because there are other bottlenecks in the industry.
For large power plant projects, the visibility is longer. LONGi is working for deliveries in 2023, but not for 2024. For 2022 supply, there is still capacity available.
Germany Germany: At the beginning of the year, the German market was suffering from the effect of rising prices and limited investment. With the new government policy, there is a nice upward trend in the German market.
How are buyers behaving?It really depends on the project itself or the possibility to postpone it. If there is a deadline, it is often impossible to postpone. It depends on the economic aspects, the construction time. If you have to build immediately, the profitability of the project will be reduced. It is not only the price of the panels, but the price of the components (the balance of the system) has increased.
For greenfield projectsFor greenfield projects, it takes three years of development in Europe. Abandonment means writing off the soft costs. I don't see any cancelled projects, but some projects are postponed.
Residential roofs Demand is very high. The customer can adapt to the price trend. They can accept the increases given the current gas price. With the country-specific subsidies and the recently reduced VAT, some end customers are able to absorb the additional price increase.
LONGi will not sell energy to individuals. The company is concentrating on what it does best, panels. However, it is getting into hydrogen and selling electrolysers to large companies.
The HJT technology, TOPCon ? LONGi is not ruling out any technology. In 2021, 600 million euros have been invested in R&D, i.e. more than 5% of turnover. The company is working on both technologies, believing that the P-type still has development potential. The N-type products on the market have not brought any additional gains. It is important to give the customer the best value for money.
https://www.pv-magazine.com/2022/05/31/higher-prices-not-holding-back-european-demand/
PV Magazine of 31 May 2022
Editor's note: This LONGi representative avoided taking responsibility for the rise in panels, blaming it on ancillary products. She refused to take responsibility for the delay in deliveries that pvXchange is complaining about. There is no problem in the postponement of projects... Thus, for LONGi, it is only the fault of others. However, it is this company which has pushed up the price of its wafers, causing a cascade of increases downstream!
