EnergyTrend has learned that Sungrow and Ganfeng Lithium have successively released research meeting minutes announcements over the past two days, disclosing core information covering the PV and energy storage market, overseas business landscape, new technology iteration and business layout.
Sungrow: European Market Growth Exceeds Expectations; Clear Policy Timeline for the US Market
On July 1, Sungrow issued an announcement sharing recent market communications.
Sungrow stated that the global energy storage market scale is projected to expand substantially this year, with the European market delivering better-than-expected performance. The company recently participated in Intersolar Europe and SNEC in China, gaining wide market recognition and maintaining a robust order backlog.
Driven by incidents related to the Strait of Hormuz, demand for residential and commercial & industrial (C&I) energy storage in Europe has accelerated. Coupled with falling lithium carbonate prices, demand for long-duration energy storage has also expanded concurrently. The firm forecasts that the overall growth rate of its European business will rise by approximately 10% compared with its earlier projections.
Meanwhile, the integration of solar PV and energy storage has become a prominent trend across Europe. PV-storage DC-coupled projects currently account for less than 10% of the total market share yet maintain an upward trajectory. Sungrow’s matrix inverters have garnered favorable market feedback.
In addition, financing restrictions imposed by individual EU banks on Chinese inverter projects have limited impact, covering only roughly 20% of European market projects, and Sungrow has minimal exposure to such constrained projects.
Regarding grid stability, power outages in multiple overseas regions stem from inherent flaws within local power systems rather than communication network failures. Sungrow has established a dedicated cybersecurity lab, and built a visual and quantifiable compliance framework to strengthen the inherent safety and compliance performance of its products.
For the US market, its policy cycle follows a clear timeline. The IRA’s Safe Harbor provisions will secure firm orders through 2027, with project eligibility extending into the first half of 2028 before expiring by the end of that year. Starting from 2029, market participants will be required to meet non-PFE requirements. Faced with overseas trade barriers, the company adheres to local compliance operations and navigates market shifts relying on product competitiveness and long-term customer trust.
In terms of production capacity, local US inverter brands hold merely around 10% market share. Building a complete industrial chain domestically in the US will take at least five years and cannot be realized in the short term. Compared with international peers, Sungrow boasts prominent delivery efficiency advantages: overseas order lead times stand at 2 to 3 months, while domestic deliveries take only one month. The company also outperforms Japanese and European competitors in product iteration speed.
On overseas manufacturing layout, Sungrow’s Poland factory is under construction and scheduled to launch commercial operation in H1 2027, mainly manufacturing inverters and energy storage products to further boost local supply capacity in Europe. Its Thailand factory is already operational, and the company will continue optimizing its global production footprint in line with its overall globalization strategy.
Furthermore, large-scale deployment of energy storage supporting US data centers is hindered by industry standards, installation space and other constraints. Mass commercialization of this segment is largely expected between 2027 and 2028, and energy storage systems are poised to become standard supporting facilities for data centers in the long run.
Ganfeng Lithium: Energy Storage Takes Priority in Battery Business Strategy
On June 30, Ganfeng Lithium released its investor relations activity record, disclosing the latest updates on its business operations.
Ganfeng Lithium clarified that energy storage batteries will serve as the core development pillar of its battery division. Benefiting from its fully integrated industrial chain, the company’s energy storage batteries feature strong market competitiveness in both cost control and product quality.
For power battery operations, the firm avoids cutthroat price competition in the passenger vehicle segment by adopting a differentiated development strategy, with a core focus on solid-state battery R&D and commercialization. Leveraging solid-state batteries’ superior safety and high energy density, Ganfeng plans to penetrate emerging sectors including low-altitude economy and robotics.
On technology layout, Ganfeng advances two parallel solid-state battery technical routes: silicon-carbon anodes and lithium metal anodes, with heavy investment in the industrialization of lithium metal anode technology. Relevant products are applicable to a wide range of scenarios such as premium new energy vehicles, low-altitude economy equipment, robots and consumer electronics. Both technical routes have yielded phased breakthroughs:
In inventory management, the company splits inventories into lithium chemical products and lithium batteries, and has achieved remarkable results in inventory control with steady declines in overall stock levels.
Lithium chemical inventories include goods in transit from overseas mineral resources. Optimized management in the first half of the year has driven a sharp reduction in this segment’s stock volume. Lithium battery inventories mainly consist of finished energy storage station products pending acceptance, which will be gradually digested within the current year.
Source：EnergyTrend