Global PV and smart energy total solutions provider Trina Solar is expanding its footprint in South Africa to respond to the country’s growing demand.
The Chinese firm said in a statement on Wednesday that it had tripled South Africa sales volume of panels in quarter one 2023 compared to full year of 2022.
The company, which has made investments in the South African market over the years, said it had recently opened a new office in Johannesburg and a warehouse in Cape Town. This was in addition to an existing warehouse in Durban.
This would allow the company to deliver solar products faster and more efficiently to customers across the country and neighbouring regions, Trina Solar said.
This as the solar firm also expands in its home market, China.
It announced this week it would invest around $1.2 billion (R24bn) in a new plant and related facilities in China’s Sichuan province amid fierce competition from Chinese competitors.
Chinese companies are in a price war and strategically trying to build market share at home and abroad.
Gonzalo de la Viña, the president Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Trina Solar, said with South Africa's goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, Trina Solar aimed to lead the way in providing solar panels to support South Africa’s journey towards a sustainable future.
In 2021, Trina Solar had over 66GW of module shipments worldwide with more than 5GW of accumulative grid connections and was also responsible for setting 20 world records for silicon cell efficiency and solar module power output since 2011.
Some prominent vendors in the South African market that Trina Solar competes with are: ARTsolar., Canadian Solar, Enel , ENGIE, IBC Solar, JinkoSolar Holding, RenEnergy South Africa, Jiangsu Seraphim Solar System and SunPower, according to research by Vendor analysis.
According to it research by Vendor analysis, the solar energy market in South Africa is fragmented, with the presence of numerous international and regional players. It estimated that the size of the solar energy market in South Africa would increase by 23.31 terawatt-hour units from 2021 to 2026. The market's growth momentum would accelerate at a CAGR of 29.74%.
Last week, the South African Photovoltaic Industry Association (Sapvia) told the Business Report that local demand for Solar PV and battery energy storage components was high and growing. It said that last year alone, R5.6 billion worth of panels and R12bn worth of batteries was imported. Already R3.6bn worth of panels have been imported in the first quarter of this year.
Sapvia said the main driver of this demand was energy resilience for residential and business customers. This demand was directly attributable to the frequency and intensity of load shedding, it said.
BUSINESS REPORT