EQ In Exclusive Conversation With Mr. Rucas I – General Manager, APAC At Growatt

EQ In Exclusive Conversation With Mr. Rucas I – General Manager, APAC At Growatt

1. How much Inverters have you supplied to India till now, what is the target/expectation in this year and next year

So far we have supplied more than 130,000 PV converters to India. Our target for the India market this year is to reach the total shipment capacity of 1 GW, but it also depends on how well India can control the pandemic. Our target for next year depends on the policy changes in India and whether the installation demand is met this year.

2. What are your views on BIS and other tariff barriers

70% of the world’s inverters are made in China and our inverters are cheaper than the European and American ones.  We believe that all the additional costs will only be added to the users.

3. What are your views on Inverters – Make in India

Currently we don’t have any plans to build a factory in India.

4. What according to you is the current opportunities, biggest challenges, in Indian Solar Market.

India has a large demand for electricity, a large power gap and abundant sunshine, which are very conducive to the development of PV industry. But the sustainability of the policy, as well as the stability of the economy, the stability and capacity of the grid will be the challenges for PV development in India.

5. Aggressive Bidding despite of many challenges enlisted above, what is your view/opinion

The recent aggressive bidding by various developers keeping Solar Tariffs in the price range of Rs.1.99-2.36 per kWh in various Solar Tenders…What’s your view on the viability, Costs & timeline pressures, Resource Challenges (Materials, ManPower, Execution, Grid Connection, Land Possession) etc…

6. Kindly enlighten our readers on the performance of your Inverters in India in various geographic locations, customer feedback,.

In 2020, Growatt’s inverters sell very well in India. In the Rooftop PV inverter rankings published by Bridge to India， we have a market share of over 17%, taking the first place.

7. Please describe in brief about your company, directors, promoters, investors, its vision & mission

Growatt is a global leader of smart energy solutions and provides residential, commercial and large scale PV inverters, energy storage, microgrid systems and smart energy management solutions. Growatt ranks among global top 10 PV inverter suppliers according to IHS Markit and Wood Mackenzie. Founded in 2010, Growatt has established an extensive network with 14 branches worldwide. By the end of 2020, Growatt had shipped over 2.6 million inverters to more than 100 countries around the world.

8. What is the size of your company in terms of manufacturing capacities, growth chart, future expansion plans, revenues, shipments, ASP’s, financial figures?

In March this year, our new factory started production and will provide 20GW of shipment to our global customers every year. In 2020, our global shipment capacity exceeded 10GW and generated the revenue of over 500 million US dollars.

9. How much is your R&D budget as % of your sales / profits

Growatt is especially dedicated to technology and product innovations, and around 10% of company revenue is invested in R&D each year.

10. What are the top 5 markets for your company in the past, present and future

Growatt’s top ranking PV markets change often because the ranking is affected by the local policy. In 2020, our top five markets are Europe, China, Latin America, Australia and Vietnam. India approximately ranked 7th last year and is expected to be the same this year.

11. Technology road map in terms of 1500V , micro inverters, upcoming game changes technologies What’s your commitment towards the solar sector in India

We will continue to provide high quality, cost-effective products for the Indian market. We have a local team in India to provide technical support, marketing, warehousing and after-sale service for Indian customers.

12. What will be the cost, technology trends in solar inverters

The price of the inverters has dropped by 70% in the past decade so there won’t be any price decrease recently. Instead, it might increase because of the intense chip supply worldwide. Solar string inverters tend to have higher and higher unit power in the future.

13. What according to you is the current opportunities, biggest challenges, in Indian Solar Market.

The C&I segment is moving fast with 100KW rating of inverter. These is one of the biggest opportunity for Growatt as we are coming up with MAX 100-125KW inverter in Q3 of 2021. With ever increasing demand the price requirements for inverter are falling considerably, and with increase in custom duties its difficult to cater low price requirement of customers.

14. Kindly enlighten our readers on the performance of your Inverters in India in various geographic locations, customer feedback,.

Growatt entered Indian market in 2021 and now its more than 9 years Growatt is having its presence in Indian market. We have shipped more than 1,50,000 unit to India in last 9 years which aggregates to approx more than 2GW.

Growatt inverters were and are widely used for Government tenders and are installed in major Government offices like BPCL, HPCL, railways.

If we talk about geographically Growatt has installed its inverter in about more than 90% of Indian states starting from Jammu& Kashmir to Kanyakumari. May be it a high altitude installation in hilly areas of Himachal Pradesh or sunny region of Rajasthan or humid weather of Tamil Nadu and Kerala , Growatt inverters are working great with no issues.

15. Briefly describe the various technologies and its suitable applications such as Central Inverter, String, Micro Inverter, 1500V, Outdoor, Container solutions etc..

Growatt being a 100% manufacturer of only string inverters have its installation base in Residential section, C&I and also Utility. All our Inverters are IP 66 rated and also C5 protected, so it becomes very easy for outdoor installation and with smart force cooling its help for longer life of inverter.

We have a very good case study of 90MW Solar Farm in Thailand where 20KW inverters were inducted.

So I think string inverter bridges the gap between Central and Micro Inverter.