Solar panel maker hits milestone

Yingli Americas' projects span the residential, commercial and utility markets, and they include more than 28,000 homes, 3,000 institutions and businesses and 50 utility-scale projects. [provided to China Daily]

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co Ltd , the world's largest photovoltaic module manufacturer in terms of shipments, said that its wholly owned subsidiary, Yingli Green Energy Americas, has achieved the milestone of more than 1 gigawatt of PV modules delivered to over 30,000 projects across the American continents and the Caribbean.

"Yingli Americas' success is anchored in our philosophy of establishing long-term relationships with customers who value quality, service, technical support and teamwork," said Robert Petrina, managing director of Yingli Americas. "We pride ourselves on being responsive, finding creative solutions to challenging problems and, above all else, delivering on our commitments."

One way Yingli stays focused on meeting the needs of local customers is by operating a highly sophisticated regional testing lab, as well as a research and development facility in the United States called PV Testing Lab (PVTL).

"The California-based PVTL provides regional customers with technical support and services," Petrina explained. "Additionally, it contributes to our global R&D efforts by testing new products and prototypes, and conducting extensive characterization and reliability testing.

"Through these efforts we have built a reputation for the kinds of service, quality and responsiveness that are crucial to the success of solar projects," he added.

Yingli Americas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yingli Green Energy Holding Co, was founded in 2009 with two US offices in New York and San Francisco.

Yingli Americas' projects span the residential, commercial and utility markets, and they include more than 28,000 homes, 3,000 institutions and businesses and 50 utility-scale projects. According to the California Solar Initiative, 1 gW of installed PV facilities would meet the energy needs of more than 200,000 average American households, according to a company press release.

Yingli Green Energy's PV modules are used by many iconic institutions in the Americas, including Harvard University, Kaiser Permanente hospitals, the New York Jets team headquarters, and Rio de Janeiro's Maracana Stadium.

"Our modules are among the most reliable and best-performing in the industry. They have even excelled in industry-wide energy yield tests conducted by independent testing labs," Petrina said.

"At our PV Testing Lab in California, we run reliability tests using customized testing protocols that far exceed certification grade tests."

Chinese solar-panel makers have been hit extremely hard by shrinking demand for their products since the European Union and the US imposed anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on them last year.

In November, the US International Trade Commission voted to slap a unilateral tariff of 36 percent on Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd's solar cells, a panel component, made in China. The Chinese solar-panel manufacturer closed its first and only US manufacturing plant in April of this year.

Petrina noted that the market fundamentals of supply and demand are improving across the various channels Yingli operates in.

"We supply trade-compliant modules to the US, and ensure that they're of the same high quality that we are known for. We are also pleased to put the trade case behind us. Milestones like today's are indicative of our commitment to success," he said.

Petrina believes this upward trend is likely to continue in the US.

"We see tremendous opportunities across all segments of the US market, from distribution to residential, commercial, institutional and utility projects," he said.