Photovoltaics! Entering the “80s Era”

Recently, the personnel changes of silicon wafer giant TCL Zhonghuan have attracted widespread attention in the industry. Shen Haoping, born in the 1960s, resigned as CEO and Wang Yanjun, born in the 1980s, officially took over. In addition to the background of silicon wafer giants, the younger generation of helmsmen is also a highlight.

In fact, a “youth storm” is sweeping the photovoltaic sector. The post-80s generation is trying to carry the new banner of the photovoltaic industry. Among them, in the chairman/president position, which symbolizes the role of the helmsman of the enterprise, Polaris found that 11 companies have replaced the “top leaders” with those born in the 1980s or even the 1990s.

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Post-80s “Photovoltaic Second Generation”

First of all, these young helmsmen are mostly linked by blood, inheriting their father’s business and cooperating with their fathers in the business world. Among them, many post-80s “Photovoltaic Second Generation” have charged on the first front line and served as chairman/president of enterprises, including Tongwei, Trina Solar, Fulai Technology, GCL, Yingli Group, Zhongli, and Easy Energy.

Specifically, in March this year, Tongwei officially announced that Liu Shuqi, the daughter of its chairman Liu Hanyuan, officially took over as the chairman of Tongwei Co., Ltd. and concurrently served as CEO, which means that this post-80s daughter will shoulder the mission of the nearly 100 billion energy group to move forward. It is not easy to helm this photovoltaic giant with dual leading silicon materials and batteries, but Liu Shuqi still “runs wildly” with this giant ship. For example, in May this year, Tongwei signed a sales contract of 39.1 billion pure crystalline silicon products with Longi. In the fiercely competitive component segment, Tongwei’s component sales in the first half of this year still ranked fifth in the industry.

Another “second-generation light” daughter who has also attracted much attention is Gao Haichun, the daughter of Trina Solar Chairman Gao Jifan, who is currently the chairman of Trina Smart. It is reported that in April last year, Trina Solar issued an announcement confirming that it plans to spin off Trina Smart for listing. This post-90s leader may become one of the youngest helmsmen of China’s photovoltaic listed companies. Trina Solar has two major distributed photovoltaic brands, “Trina Richa” and “Trina Blue Sky”. According to Trina Solar’s semi-annual report, Trina Solar’s distributed system business shipped more than 3.2GW in the first half of this year, providing original power stations and services to more than 1.2 million users.

Photovoltaic glass giant Fulait ushered in the second-generation succession in June last year. Ruan Hongliang’s daughter Ruan Zeyun officially succeeded her father and became the company’s new president. From the perspective of shareholding structure, Fulait is a typical family-owned enterprise. The founder Ruan Hongliang’s family of three plus his son-in-law directly hold a total of 52.13% of the shares. As one of the leading photovoltaic glass companies, Fulait’s overall profitability remains stable. In the first half of this year, its operating income was 10.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.51%, and its net profit was nearly 1.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 38.14%.

In addition, Miao Qing, the daughter of Miao Liansheng, the founder of Yingli Group, a veteran component leader, officially became the chairman of Yingli Group in 2022. After Miao Qing took over as the head of Yingli, he established a new photovoltaic brand Yingchen Energy, built 8GW smart manufacturing bases in Baoding, Hebei and Hanzhong, Shaanxi, which can provide photovoltaic module products for all scenarios, and led “Jiasheng Optoelectronics” to become a leading enterprise in the field of BIPV building materials.

The founder of Xinxing Group, which is also a veteran photovoltaic giant, Zhu Gongshan was born in 1958 and is still fighting on the front line. His son Zhu Yufeng, who fought side by side with him, has gradually taken on some of the group’s business segments. At present, Zhu Yufeng has assumed the role of the head of two listed companies under Xinxing Group-Chairman of Xinxing Energy and Xinxing Integration. Among them, Xinxing Integration achieved sustained profitability in the first half of the year under the severe situation of intensified industry competition, with a year-on-year increase in module shipments and operating income, and continued to rank among the top 10 global photovoltaic module shipments.

Of course, the second-generation light-chasing business is not smooth sailing. He Jia took over Easy from his father He Simu at the age of 33 and became the young head of a listed company with a market value of 10 billion yuan. Today, Easy has been subject to “other risk warnings” for financial fraud, and its stock name has been changed to “ST Easy”; founder He Simu has been banned from the market for 10 years, and He Jia has also been issued a warning letter for failing to perform due diligence obligations as required.

The “second generation of light” in trouble also includes Wang Weifeng, the son of Wang Baixing, the founder of Zhongli Group. In August 2022, when Wang Weifeng took over Zhongli Group, the company had been ST due to the occupation of non-operating funds by the controlling shareholder’s related parties. In July this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission found that Zhongli Group had inflated its revenue by nearly 8 billion yuan in 5 years, so it decided to order Zhongli Group to correct, give a warning, and impose a fine of 8 million yuan; Wang Baixing and Wang Weifeng were given a warning and fined 18 million yuan, and Wang Baixing was also banned from the market for life.

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Post-80s “first generation” entrepreneurs

Unlike the “second generation” who inherited their father’s business, the post-80s photovoltaic entrepreneurs are also trying to tell their own stories, including Wang Yiming of Jinlong Technology, Ding Yongqiang of Growatt, and Xie Yi, the former chairman of Tongwei Co., Ltd.

Growatt and Ginlong Technology are two of the top companies in the world in terms of PV inverter shipments. Both of their founders were born in the 1980s. First of all, in 2010, Growatt was born in Shenzhen, the forefront of my country’s reform and opening up. Its founder Ding Yongqiang is a hardworking entrepreneur in this hot land. At the beginning of its establishment, in order to avoid fierce competition, Ding Yongqiang turned his attention to overseas markets. Since then, he has become the largest Chinese inverter supplier in many countries and regions, and his household photovoltaic inverters have maintained the top export for many years. In 2022, Growatt submitted its application for listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the first time. In July last year, Growatt passed the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing.

Wang Yiming, the founder of Ginlong Technology, returned to China to start a business earlier. He established Ginlong Technology in 2005. With his rich experience studying abroad, Ginlong Technology opened the door to the international market early, and then successfully listed in March 2019. It is the world’s first A-share listed company with string inverters as its largest main business.

Xie Yi is a representative of the post-80s photovoltaic “young generation”. After more than ten years at Tongwei, Xie Yi resigned and founded Sichuan Heguang Tongcheng Photovoltaic Technology Co., Ltd., whose main direction is still photovoltaic cells. In November last year, the first phase of the 16GW battery project jointly undertaken by Xie Yi and Wuliangye Group was successfully put into production, and the second phase of the 16GW production project is scheduled to be put into production next year.

Of course, among the post-80s photovoltaic leaders, there are also professional managers who have been recognized by their bosses with their outstanding personal abilities, and the representative figure is Lu Chuan. In 2005, Lu Chuan was personally brought into Chint by Nan Cunhui, chairman of Chint Group, and successively served in many important positions in Chint. He is currently the chairman of Chint New Energy and the chairman and president of Chint New Energy. Under the leadership of Lu Chuan, Chint New Energy firmly occupies many proud achievements such as the largest private photovoltaic power generation investment enterprise and the top ten photovoltaic modules in the world.

The market is ever-changing. The current photovoltaic market is experiencing an industrial reshuffle as prices in the industry chain hit bottom and technology iterations accelerate. We will wait and see whether the post-80s photovoltaic army can take up the banner of the photovoltaic industry and what kind of history they will write.