China’s top solar panel maker calls on Beijing to control prices

CHINESE solar giant Longi Green Energy Technology is calling on Beijing to crack down on low prices and ensure panel quality as excess capacity and fierce competition spur company failures.

The government should introduce new bidding rules to discourage prices that are below production costs, and to award firms that can provide long-lasting reliable products, Longi Chairman Zhong Baoshen said in an interview with Shanghai Securities News. Zhong made the comments on the sidelines of this week’s National People’s Congress, which he is attending as a delegate.

The Chinese solar industry is being hit by production cuts and layoffs, although installations this year are forecast to remain near the record set in 2023. The comments from Longi, the world’s biggest panel manufacturer, follow a warning late last year from Gao Jifan, chairman of Trina Solar, that smaller companies would be squeezed out due to the extremely low prices.

Some manufacturers that are winning bids with below-cost prices can only deliver lower-quality panels, which will hurt other producers that are investing in technology innovations and discourage them from creating better products, Zhong said. “Big companies are very distressed about this issue,” he said. BLOOMBERG