(Left) Luke Lu, Director, Sungrow India and Dr Jack Gu, CEO, Sungrow, at the unveiling of the new factory in Bengaluru.

This is Sungrow’s first factory outside of China. Spread over three acres, and boasting a floor space of 48,000 sq ft, it was built at a cost of Rs 38 crore (US$5.53 million). Production of string inverters (1 GW) is expected to commence next month. The company did not say when production of its central inverters (2 GW) would begin, however.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jack Gu, CEO, said, “This factory will help us deliver requirements for India, as well as the deliverables to our international markets. It could serve as our export hub catering primarily to the U.S. and the Middle East market.”

In an interview with pv magazine, he added, “India tops the list of countries in terms of Sungrow’s cumulative supply and revenue. That was the sole reason for setting up the factory here.”

Referring to tariffs on solar imports imposed by the U.S., and the 25% safeguard duty for solar equipment coming from China and Malaysia, proposed by India’s Directorate of Trade Remedies, he added, “Manufacturing locally will also help us fend off any safeguard duties.”

He did not, however, comment on expected prices resulting from local manufacturing, but did rue the lack of a supply chain in India.

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The company opened its first Indian office back in 2015. To date, Sungrow India has installed 2.5 GW of solar capacity. With a 27% market share, the company was the number one supplier of inverters to India in Q4 2017.

“The Indian solar market is growing exponentially and we hope to cross the 3.5 GW mark next year, and have at least 50% of the Indian market share. We are also exploring the idea of setting up an R&D Centre in India,” Luke Lu, Director, Sungrow India, told pv magazine.

In 2017, Sungrow shipped more than 16.5 GW of PV inverters worldwide marking a 48% increase over 2016. Demands from India, the U.S., Europe, Japan, and other APAC countries drove much of the growth.

Founded in 1997 by University Professor, Cao Renxian and headquartered in Hefei, China, it is the largest PV inverter manufacturer in the Asia-Pacific region, and the second largest, globally. As of June 2018, it had deployed 68 GW of inverters in nearly 60 countries, maintaining a worldwide market share of over 15%.