PARIS—June 24, 2013—On Feb. 27, 2013, GE’s Power Conversion (NYSE: GE) business signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) together with Sinoma International Engineering Co., Ltd. (“Sinoma International”) and Yingda International Leasing Co., Ltd. (“Yingda”). Under the terms of this MOU, all the three parties will share resources and cooperate closely to develop the solar energy business in China and abroad. The win-win cooperation includes expertise in and the development of technology, financing and government relations management. Key objectives will be to ensure product quality as well as alleviating pressure on cash flow and financial constraints which EPCC’s (engineering, procurement and construction contractors) may face during the execution of large PV (photovoltaic) energy projects.
The Chinese government has announced aggressive targets to reduce carbon emissions and energy use per unit of gross domestic product by at least 3.7 percent in 2013 following similar reductions in previous years and in line with this initiative, China’s solar energy industry has maintained a continued and rapid growth. According to the National Development and Reform Commission, a goal has been set to increase the country’s installed PV capacity to 10 gigawatts (GW) in 2013. This goal is three times higher than that of 2012 and represents 140 percent of the newly installed capacity achieved over the past five years with the expectation that the total investment in solar inverters will reach 4 billion RMB, the equivalent of $645 million.
Bo Liu, president of GE Power Conversion China said, “China is already one of the largest solar energy users as well as a leading producer of PV hardware globally. The opportunity for growth in clean and efficient solar energy is immense as China aggressively pursues a reduction in carbon emissions. This partnership brings together the best of the capabilities needed to deliver powerful, reliable and cost-effective solutions, which we expect will become the trademark for other regions to benefit from.”
GE’s Power Conversion business provides a complete range of central inverters based on a modular and compact approach and are specifically designed for the solar industry. As part of GE’s ongoing development in power electronics technology, the solar inverters build on extensive experience with designing and installing more than 26 GW of converters for the renewable energy industry globally and decades of experience in controls for a wide range of utility applications.
The GE ProSolar Central Solar Inverter is the latest development specifically designed for the solar industry. GE’s ProSolar Converters are particularly attractive to medium- and large-scale PV power plants due to their capability to handle input voltages of more than 1,000 V, enabling solar generation facilities to manage power output and balance plant costs.
The proven and reliable inverters of GE’s Power Conversion business have been successfully used in the PV industry worldwide in recent years including the largest PV stations in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Chile and many medium and large projects in Australia, Spain and Malaysia.
