What new products are you showcasing at Intersolar Europe?
Catering to different kinds of customers, we brought some of our most comprehensive and innovative inverter solutions to this important event and presented several recently developed products. 3 of our hybrid inverters had their debut at Intersolar Europe 2019 in Munich. First of all, our streamlined all-in one solution, the SH Smart Hybrid System which integrates the inverter, battery charger, UPS and battery enclosure into a pre-wired modular system for easier and faster installation. We also showcased the EH Series, which is the GoodWe’s new single-phase, hybrid inverter compatible with high voltage batteries. Even when it is on back-up mode it can still supply power to large loads such as air conditioners. Last but not least, we displayed our brand new AC-coupled retrofit BT series at Intersolar as well. It is compatible with high voltage Li-lon batteries ranging from 180V to 600V and can reach a high efficiency of up to 98%.
What are the specific benefits of your products and services?
Let us start with some few words about the products that we are currently developing and introducing to the international market. Among our current priorities, we would like to highlight that GoodWe is focused on developing a battery storage system that combines inverter, batteries and software into an easy to use all-in-one system.
The SH Smart Hybrid System is a modular system with expandable battery storage able to expand according to the user demand. For this inverter, we’ve developed software that intelligently manages the energy to maximize savings every day; we have built in the ability to switch on high energy consuming appliances during the day, reducing the amount of energy sent to the grid This inverter looks great both indoors and outdoors, it’s of easy installation, which ultimately helps to save money.
We would like to refer as well to our ET Series of hybrid inverters, which is one of our star products and very suitable for storage market in Germany and Europe. With the ET you can see the engineering competence and technical leadership of GoodWe as this features a product which is a state-of-art-art solution when it comes to high voltage storage systems. This product can very well compete on technical parameters with any other solution which is out there in the market. This is a three-phase high voltage energy storage inverter that enables enhanced energy independence and maximizes self-consumption through export limit feature and time of use shifts for reduced electric bills. Covering a power range of 5 kW, 8 kW and 10 kW, the ET Series allows up to 100% overloading to maximize power output and features Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to inductive loads such as air conditioners or refrigerators with an automatic switchover time of less than 10 milliseconds, providing grid-tied savings when the grid is up and off-grid independence and security when it is down or compromised.
As part of our retrofit inverters, we are bringing one inverter of the BT series, which is GoodWe retrofit AC coupled solution able to upgrade existing three-phase PV system to storage of 5kW, 6kW, 8kW & 10kW. This solution is able to modernize any three-phase PV system, providing the ability to store power or operate with the back-up of batteries, ensuring interactivity or grid independence. It is compatible with high voltage Li-Ion batteries ranging from 180 to 600V and it is also equipped with UPS function. It can reach a high efficiency of up to 98% and one very outstanding feature is that it permits up to 100% of overloading. As part of its set of protections, it incorporates a Battery Input Reverse Polarity Protection. It also includes LAN as one of its communications options.
Finally, on the residential front, we are introducing the brand new XS model of GoodWe is an ultra-small residential solar inverter specifically designed to bring comfort and quiet operation as well as high efficiency to households. Its capacity ranges from 0.7 to 3.0kW and its most outstanding characteristic is light weight, which is only 5.2Kg and as well as its extremely small size equivalent to an A4 paper, that make it particularly easy to carry & install. Remarkably, it offers a 30% of DC input oversizing and it’s able to achieve a maximum Europe efficiency of 97%. Conveniently, the communications options available on this inverter are both LAN & Wifi.
How important is the German and European market for you? Which segments are most important to you? What are your sales goals for 2019?
There are many reasons that make Europe, and Germany in particular, of extreme importance for GoodWe. Firstly, Germany is one of the leading economies in Europe and even globally and always has shown strong support to the expansion of solar energy with a strong role model character for Europe and other countries around the globe. In the specific case of Germany, this country is situated in the center of Europe and happens to be as well one of the cradles of the PV industry. It is in recognition of this central position that GoodWe set up last year GoodWe Europe based in Munich, whose mission is precisely to take a better and local care of our customers in the continent. It is important to emphasize that GoodWe Europe has all the support of our Headquarters, enjoying at the same time autonomy to develop our sales, provide technical and logistical support and expand the company marketing activities. In 2019 we are aiming to increase our production capacity, reaching a target of 15GW thanks to the contribution of our new factory in Guangde. Our commercial priorities in Europe comprise expanding our presence in the realm of energy storage solutions and commercial & industrial segments, where we see the next wave of opportunity.
Are you directly cooperating with installers or through wholesalers?
We have been building our relationship with European distributors over several years. Recently we have been expanding our cooperation with two big German distributors Memodo and Fenecon. Thanks to the cooperation with these companies, we are able to be more active in Germany and some neighboring countries, delivering the high GoodWe quality to the local households and C&I end-users. Additionally we have built up and are still continuing to grow our distribution network in other strategic European countries such as Italy, Spain and Poland. But we are also working actively in several other European countries. Important point here is that a market entry always needs to be prepared by a proper country strategy where technical support, after sales service and logistical topics needs to be considered and in place prior to building up sales channels to make sure that customers can be supported in the best possible way and the growing market share can be managed in a professional and controlled way.
How large is your partner network?
We have built a diversified and solid partner network which covers the whole of the PV industry. For instance, we work closely with panel manufacturer LONGi and Suntech, the battery manufacturers BYD and PYLON, which allow us to provide the end-users with whole system solutions. In addition, we have signed up partnerships with local professional PV training companies which help us to lead installers to gather a deep understanding of the GoodWe products, perfectly combining theory and practice. We enjoy the benefits of very good relationships with the European PV media, regularly updating our news in well-known social platforms and magazines in different languages. In a nutshell, this is part of the great network that we have built all over the years and that we diligently keep expanding it in order to become a more diversified company.
What service are you offering in the fields of pre-sale, in-sale and after-sale?
Here I can refer to the GoodWe Solar Academy (GSA), which is a GoodWe branch focused on providing pre-sales support and top quality training. In order to let our customers learn more about our products and services before they take the decision to purchase, the GSA provides training specialized on our line of inverter products and PV solutions. With a wide range of topics covering the needs of installers, system designers and technical sales teams, the GSA is the one-stop solution to help buyers to get an in-depth pre-sales knowledge.
The after-sales support strategy is always part of a country strategy and can be answered individually depending on the sales channel strategy, customer landscape and local requirements. In Germany we chose to work with Adler Solar as they are very competent in technical services and will help us to create a positive and compelling customer journey when it comes to technical and service requirements. This will allow us to manage a successful growth which sometimes is tricky to cope with when you have to build this on your own in short term. In other regions we might go with a similar concept or also looking at other models to provide first calls after sales service.
The interview was conducted by Hans-Christoph Neidlein
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