Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. is a producer of solar panels, with 2,000MW
of annual production capacity by the end of 2011. Shunfeng International Clean
Energy Limited, a HKSE listed renewable energy investment and Independent Power
Producer company, acquired Suntech in 2014 following Suntech's bankruptcy in
2013. With offices or production facilities in every major market,
Suntech has delivered more than 13,000,000 solar panels to thousands of
companies in more than 80 countries around the world. As the center for the
company's global operations, Suntech headquarters, in Wuxi, China, features
the world's largest building integrated solar facade.
Suntech's fortunes have declined significantly since its peak in 2008,
due to a glut in the market for solar products and problems with its
investments. In March 2013 it announced a US$541 million bond payment default,
becoming the first company from mainland China to default on its US bonds.
Chinese banks subsequently filed to place Suntech’s main unit, Wuxi Suntech
Power Holdings Co., Ltd., into insolvency. The company's American
Depository Receipts were subsequently delisted from the New York Stock
Exchange and placed on the over the counter exchange.
Global operations Suntech Power has representative offices
in China, Australia, the United States, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Germany,
Japan, and Dubai, as well as production facilities in Wuxi, Luoyang, Qinghai,
Shanghai, Germany, Japan, and Goodyear, Arizona.
Suntech America is based in San Francisco, California, and the company
has plans to start a production facility in Phoenix, Arizona in 2010. Suntech
also has executives of their US operations in top posts in American
solar panel industry groups. Installations
Suntech Power has supplied or installed solar modules for numerous solar power
plants and systems around the world. Notable installations include:
Clif Bar Headquarters The Wharf, home of the Sydney Theatre
Company Alamosa Power Plant
Arizona State University Beijing National Stadium
Elecnor Power Plant Masdar City Solar Farm
Nellis Air Force Base Expo 2010 Shanghai
Ketura Sun The company's Suntech Energy Solutions
division completed Google's 1.6 MW solar installation in June 2007.
Suntech Power joined with Israeli company Solarit Doral to build a 50 kW
rooftop project in the Israeli settlement of Katzrin in the Golan
Heights, which was connected to the electricity grid in December 2008.
Suntech panels were used on the Ketura Sun field, the first commercial solar
field in Israel. The field was developed by the Arava Power Company.
In 2010, Suntech topped the solar panel shipment with 1.49GW shipment volume,
according to PVinsights. Suntech targets to ship over 2GW in 2011; however, free
price fall for solar components in 2011 made this more difficult to achieve.
During the downturn of solar panel price, Chinese companies showed their
ability to compete in cost management. On the very first day of the third
quarter in 2011, SunTech announced that they would terminate their long-term
wafer contract with MEMC by paying US$120 million.
Market share of the top five Chinese solar companies ranked in 2011, which
are Suntech, Yingli, Trina, Canadian and Jinko, made a huge advancement from
17.2% market share in 2009 to 30% market share in 2011. The five Chinese solar
module companies almost doubled their totaling market share in 2.5 years and
took nearly one-third of the worldwide market.
Suntech announced in 2013 that it will be closing its Goodyear, AZ panel
manufacturing plant. The reason given for the closure was the hefty tariffs
imposed on Chinese solar cells by the United States International Trade
Commission, even though the panels were assembled in Arizona, the cells were
actually produced in China. Awards
Suntech Power was recognized as the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Solar Energy
Development Company of the Year. Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Mary John
commented on the recognition, "The company's pioneering success in
developing energy-efficient, cost-effective and customizable building
integrated photovoltaic systems and crystalline PV cells, and modules for
solar energy conversion into electricity are highly commendable. It has gone
beyond just meeting global energy needs to anticipating them as well and highly
satisfied customers testify that the BIPV systems and other energy-efficient
products are customized precisely to their needs."
The Andalay AC Solar PV Panel was awarded one on MSN’s most brilliant
products of 2009 because of innovations that advanced their ease of installation
and use. Suntech Power is one of the main manufacturers of components for the
Andalay Solar Panel sold by Akeena Solar.
Founder Dr Shi Zhengrong is the founder,
chairman and chief executive officer of Suntech Power.
He is a graduate of the University of NSW's School of Photovoltaic and
Renewable Energy Engineering. At UNSW, Dr. Shi studied under Professor Martin
Green and met Stuart Wenham, now Suntech's Chief Technology Officer.
Dr. Zhengrong Shi was honored in January 2010 as a finalist for the Zayed Future
Energy Prize. In 2007, Dr. Shi was named one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the
Environment. He is often referred to as the world's first 'green billionaire'.
Dr. Zhengrong Shi has been appointed Visiting Professor at the University of
NSW. Investments
Before going public on the NYSE in 2005, Suntech was funded by a consortium of
private equity firms, including Actis Capital and Goldman Sachs. The
consolidated private equity investment into Suntech is generally considered to
be one of China's most profitable private equity investments ever, as each
firm is thought to have made gains well over 10x on their original investments.
The company's stock performed quite well after its first day of IPO on Dec 14th,
2005. In June 2008, Suntech invested in Global
Solar Fund, a company investing in power plants in Spain and Italy. In May 2010,
Suntech guaranteed a finance arrangement of 554.2 million euro provided by China
Development Bank to companies related to GSF, using 560 million euros in German
government bonds from GSF Capital as collateral. However, on 30 July 2012
Suntech revealed that the bonds didn't exist, they were apparently forgeries.
In the following week, Suntech shares lost 40% of their value.
Bankruptcy Suntech, defaulted on $541 million of
convertible bonds in March 2013. On March 20th, 2013 Suntech filed for
bankruptcy in Jiangsu, China. In February 2014, Suntech filed for Chapter
15 bankruptcy in Manhattan, New York to seek protection from U.S. creditors. A
creditors’ working group led by distressed debt funds Clearwater Capital
Partners LLC and Spinnaker Capital Ltd. announced in August a plan to
recapitalize the solar maker, the company said in a statement.
See also Solar power in China
Renewable energy companies on the stock exchange
References External links
Suntech website Suntech Starts Construction of Shanghai
Thin Film Plant Suntech Announces $425 Million Offering
Solar future brightens as oil soars Suntech Announces Major Initiatives to
Significantly Expand Share of the U.S. Solar Market and Capture Greater Portion
of Revenue in PV Value Chain