Workers install solar panels at a new power station in Ji'an, East China's Jiangsu Province on June 19. Photo: IC

China's solar panel makers have entered an advanced stage of technological sophistication called "No Man's Land", meaning there are no competitors to take reference from, after being toughened up by years of trade conflicts before the current China-US trade war, a senior executive of a Chinese solar panel maker told the Global Times. 

"The global leadership position can be measured from the sense of technological levels, cost effectiveness and the completeness of the industrial chain," Qian Jing, vice president of JinkoSolar Holding Co,  said of China's photovoltaic manufacturing capacity.

Chinese solar panel producers including JinkoSolar, the world's biggest solar panel maker, which is also listed in New York, have been embroiled in repeated trade disputes with the US and the EU since at least 2012. These antidumping probes and penalties affected some Chinese companies, but the ones that survived were toughened up so much that they rose to become global industry forerunners. 

Qian used the phrase "No Man's Land', a concept brought to media attention by global telecom giant Huawei's CEO Ren Zhengfei when he described his company's pursuit of being an industry pioneer.

Chinese firms are the best in the world, accounting for about 80 percent of global market share in solar panels, Qian told the Global Times on the sidelines of the ongoing World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2019, also known as Summer Davos.

Chinese solar panel makers started early on to shift some of their plants abroad and diversify end markets for their products.

The US market neither accounts for too much of JinkoSolar's business nor can US customers afford not to use Chinese solar panels, given that there are no alternatives, Qian said, noting that this sector is to a very large extent not affected by the trade war.

Experts attending a Davos seminar said that Chinese companies will experience a significant uplift in quality in the coming decade because of the trade war. For solar manufacturing, this seems to have already become a reality.

"All said, no one likes a trade war," Qian said.


Newspaper headline: Prelude to trade war toughened up solar panel makers, led to technological lead