Chinese Solar maker rejects German dumping claims

China-based solar specialist SunTech is reporting that demand for its solar panels is increasing as financial markets begin to recover from the impact of the recession - with Germany leading the way.

The chief strategy officer of Suntech, which claims to be the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the world, made the comments at the Reuters Global Climate and Alternative Energy Summit in San Francisco this week.

"Maybe about a month ago the markets were still slower than we would have liked, but as of the past month - and this has been led principally by Germany - we have seen the market pick up," Suntech chief strategy officer Steven Chan told Reuters.

"Suntech and others in the market are quite busy right now. We are doing everything we can to ship as much product as we can to our customers. That will probably last for most of this year."

Last month, Suntech released its second quarter results, which the company said showed that demand for its solar technology was increasing, although conditions continued to be tough.

"During the second quarter, we continued to demonstrate Suntech's ability to adapt to fluid market conditions and improve competitiveness," said chief executive Zhengrong Shi.

"A seasonal pick-up in demand, combined with a gradual thawing of global financial markets and improving project returns, led to sequential shipment growth in most of our major markets. In addition, despite pricing pressure, our continued reduction of silicon costs enabled us to improve gross margin in the second quarter."

Despite SunTech's optimistic forecasts, the market for solar panels has been hit hard by the global recession, with the effect that supply is outstripping demand.

This has led to a glut of panels on the market which has resulted in a fall in prices. Some German manufacturers, including Conergy AG and Solarworld AG, have objected to what they see as aggressive pricing by Chinese competitors such as Suntech.

Questioned by Reuters over the news that Germany's solar industry association, Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft e.V, is investigating whether Chinese solar panel makers are effectively "dumping" panels on the country's solar market, Chan rejected the allegations.

"We're clearly not dumping," Chan said, calling the German accusations " self-serving".

Bundesverband Solarwirtschaft e.V (BSW Solar) released a statement last month claiming that by 2010 at the latest, the photovoltaics industry would return to growth worldwide.

"Despite the economic slowdown, we are nevertheless expecting growing demand in Germany in 2009. There are currently many new sales markets developing worldwide. By 2010 at the latest, our sector will therefore return to its worldwide growth path," said Carsten Körnig, managing director of BSW Solar.

Last month, Suntech claimed its multi-crystalline silicon photovoltaic (PV) modules have broken the world record for solar conversion rates and that the feat has been independently verified.

The firm said its commercial-grade module converts light into power at an efficiency rate of 15.6 per cent, which beats the previous record of 15.5 per cent set by US organisation Sandia National Labs last year with its aperture-only, frameless module.