Like the household appliance industry more than a decade ago, the photovoltaic industry has also entered a cycle of price war. This has once led to a decline in profits for more PV companies, and even losses.
Dong Mingzhu, chairman of Gree Electric Appliances who has experienced years of competition in the household appliance industry, said at the SNEC 17th International Photovoltaic and Smart Energy Conference on June 11th, "Actually, when we encountered some unsolvable difficulties in the development process, we also shed tears. But tears are useless. The market does not believe in tears, only one word: 'struggle'."
In her opinion, the coordinated development of industry and market is inevitable, but "struggle" is more necessary. Only through continuous competition and technological upgrading can a company survive better in the market.
According to Dong Mingzhu, Gree Electric Appliances currently has more than 10,000 R&D personnel and more than 120,000 patents.
"Technology has brought Gree market competitiveness." In Dong Mingzhu's opinion, although some PV companies invest a large amount of money in technology research and development every year, they are forced to join the price war because they do not have core technology.
She also said that manufacturing companies should not consider profitability first, but consider "benefit or harm to others". "Your technology changes others, because your quality protects others, and because all your behavior is beneficial to others, others naturally support you. In the development of the times and the enrichment of material resources, our manufacturing industry should have a new thinking, and take the realization of a better life for the people as our direction of efforts, " said Dong Mingzhu.
"I think photovoltaic is a promising and hopeful industry, and we need to continue to roll up our sleeves and work hard." Dong Mingzhu cited Gree's entry into photovoltaics as an example. Failure is inevitable, but only through continuous failures can we finally achieve success. Adhering to the concept of green development, Gree introduced the core technology of "PV storage and direct flexible" and finally successfully developed a photovoltaic project after a year and a half of research and development.
In the field of new energy, according to Dong Mingzhu, Gree Electric Appliances has now built a product layout including basic components, chips, capacitors, inverters, control systems, intelligent energy storage systems, and electric machines, electronic controls, new energy auto thermal management, commercial and special vehicles, and combined with air conditioning technology, it has developed photovoltaic (storage) DC air conditioning and household appliance systems, establishing a new ecosystem of zero-carbon energy products of "PV storage and direct flexible" integration.
In December 2023, Gree Electric Appliances increased its stake in Gree Titanium and expanded its energy storage business. According to Dong Mingzhu, Gree Titanium's new energy battery covers a variety of application scenarios, such as wind and solar power storage and transmission, power grid frequency modulation, industrial peak regulation, and communication base stations, and is committed to researching and developing energy storage systems in high-altitude and ultra-low temperature areas.