4 October 2024
KDEC’s Journey to China
Meeting Our Partners in Sustainability
Starting Our Journey
Our journey to meet our business partners and other companies who share the same passion for sustainability officially kicked off when we flew to Hong Kong on September 7. Of course, to complete our Hong Kong trip, we attended the Sha Tin races the following day.
9th September
The KDEC team then went back to the Hong Kong International Airport to meet with the touring party, including our wholesalers, Supply Partners as well as other like-minded solar power installation companies from all over Australia including Shepparton, Sydney and a large Queensland contingent.
Touring the Impressive BYD Factory in China
From there, Leo from BYD was our guide in navigating across the border into Shenzhen China.
We checked into our accommodation, went for the obligatory massage and spot of gift shopping and then onto the BYD-hosted dinner for all that evening. This was a chance to meet and greet all of the touring party, enjoy some delicious food and of course a few drinks.
10th September
Up and about early to board the bus bound for the BYD factory.
BYD is an electronics and battery manufacturing company that specialises in producing batteries for the automotive and home energy storage markets. The scale of BYD and the one particular facility that we visited has to be seen to be believed. There are over 900,000 total employees, countless factories and a facility that is so large that they have built their very own internal electric train network for employees to navigate efficiently across the site. It was not surprising to learn that BYD is ranked 143rd on the global Fortune 500 list.
At KDEC, we already had some appreciation of how impressive BYD is as a brand, having paired them with our quality Fronius inverters for several years. But, seeing it all in the flesh and witnessing their attitude towards delivering the best quality energy storage product into our market leaves us full of confidence to endorse their product in our offering now and into the future.
That evening, we caught a flight from Shenzhen to Hefei where we were greeted by SunGrow.
We got off to a bit of a rough start with the SunGrow crew as the bus battery had gone flat! Luckily, a few good country folks from the touring party kicked into gear and helped jump-start the bus. I’m actually not 100% convinced that this wasn’t some kind of scripted team-building/problem-solving scenario schemed by Supply Partners and SunGrow.
From the airport, we headed back to the hotel for a quick bite before getting some much-needed sleep.
Meeting Our Partners from SunGrow
11th September
First thing on Wednesday morning, we were back on the bus en route to the SunGrow HQ.
Like BYD, SunGrow has also earned high praise by achieving 12th place on the 2023 Fortune Future 50 list for consistent growth across a considerable timeframe. In addition, SunGrow shipped more inverters to market than any other manufacturer for the 2023 calendar year, so they’re clearly doing something right.
My expectation heading to SunGrow was for a state-of-the-art facility and boy, did they deliver! Walking into their showroom was like walking into a 5-star hotel, with serious refinement, with an amazing audio and visual display showcasing their extraordinary innovation.
It is clear that SunGrow is investing considerably into the future with a range of inverters and battery solutions for the present but with a suite of Electric Vehicle charging and related solutions for the future to adapt to the changing energy landscape on the horizon.
From HQ, we went to enjoy a special dinner hosted by Neil and the crew from SunGrow for some more amazing Chinese traditional food and rice wine. It’s Chinese tradition to toast throughout the dinner to a special occasion or person related to the dinner, followed by the phrase ‘Ganbei’, which is the signal to drink up the shot glass of 53% alcohol rice wine. By the end of the dinner, there were a few hoping that topics left to toast would run out.
Exploring Phono and Nanjing’s History
12th September
From Hefei, we caught the bullet train for a 2-hour journey across to Nanjing where we were greeted by the lovely people at Phono.
Phono is a high-end solar module manufacturer with a reputation for innovation, high efficiency and strict quality and testing measures maintained over a long period of time to deliver a high-quality product offering, at a competitive price. Upon touring their facility, it was obvious to the touring party that Phono is likely to be at the sharp end of solar module manufacturing for decades to come.
Our time at the Phono facility was a short one before we were whisked across town to tour the famous Nanjing city wall. This impressive structure was built during the Ming dynasty over 600 years ago to protect the city of Nanjing and is still standing today.
That evening, we hopped onto another 2.5-hour train journey across the city of Yancheng.
Learning About TW’s Solar Journey
13th September
On Friday morning we were transported out to TW Solar for a tour of their vast facility.
Traditionally, TW was a supplier of wafers to other well-known solar module suppliers, as well as manufacturing solar modules under license for other suppliers. In recent times, TW made the decision to undertake the solar module manufacturing process from sourcing the raw materials, to producing the rod and ingot, to the wafers, then the cells and all the way through to the construction solar module all within one facility.
They are now the largest producer of solar panels in the world.
Their almost fully automated solar panel manufacturing facility was on a scale hard to fathom and left me in no doubt that the TW brand will be a force in the solar module market for the foreseeable future.
Ending Our Journey with a Memorable Dinner
From Yancheng, we took another bullet train ride into the thriving metropolis of Shanghai. A quick freshen up and then off to ‘The Bund’ waterfront promenade overlooking the Pudong district’s futuristic skyline for our farewell dinner. This was one of the most impressive natural or man-made sights that I have seen in my life!
A huge thanks to Supply Partners and all of the suppliers for putting on the trip. It certainly was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and one I’ll never forget.
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