Global Leadership & Local Support: GoodWe’s Commitment to Innovation and Quality
June 28, 2024
GoodWe is a global PV inverter manufacturer and smart energy solution provider with nearly 5,000 employees worldwide, which has resulted in a well-established track record of over 71 GW of installations in over 100 countries and regions as of the end of 2023. A recently announced partnership with Guillevin marks their first foray into the Canadian market.
The company is entering the Canadian market at a time when smart buildings, microgrids, and distributed energy resources (DERs) are receiving more attention, representing a growing renewables market.
As the country progresses toward meeting the net-zero 2030 and 2050 goals establish by federal and provincial governments, investments in building retrofits, wind, solar, microgrids, and battery storage is increasing across the country. For their part, utilities have included an increased focus on renewables in their future planning. Hydro-Quebec, BC Hydro, and the IESO have all issued significant calls for renewable power and energy storage this year, and in the Maritimes, NB Power has released its ten-year plan with a focus on clean energy, while Saint John Energy recently inaugurated a large battery storage system as part of its Burchill Wind Project.
Additionally, distributed energy resources have a large role to play in the overall electrification transition, and Canada has a large portfolio of buildings that will need to be retrofitted with energy efficiency technologies if the country is going to be able to meet these net-zero goals.
“Distributed solar energy is the first step towards achieving smart buildings and microgrids. That’s because by transitioning our power production to be onsite while also electrifying it, we are building the foundations for a new type of energy infrastructure in which our buildings themselves become dispatchable power and controllable loads,” GoodWe explains of their recent expansion into Canada. “We want to support installers in scaling up their businesses and meeting demand with cost-effective string inverters, which offer significant value, such as built-in safety, shade fixing, and extendable warranties.”
GoodWe offers an extensive range of products and solutions tailored for residential, commercial and industrial, and utility-scale PV systems, delivering reliable and high-performance solutions across its entire portfolio. In 2021, the company was recognized as one of the top three hybrid inverter suppliers worldwide by Wood Mackenzie.
As an award-winning brand, their accolades also include being named a Top 5 Financially stable inverter company by Sinovoltaics, based on the Altman Z Score calculated by the Sinovoltaics team using publicly available financial data, and in 2022 they received a Silver Medal in EcoVadis Sustainability Rating.
What sets GoodWe apart and what are some key factors to your growth as a company?
“We are not only the manufacturers of our solar inverters, but we also do the research and development. This vertical integration means our customers can rely on higher quality and more innovation.
“GoodWe is committed to being a comprehensive solution provider by offering an extensive product portfolio that includes inverters, lithium batteries, and smart energy management systems.
“Our commitment to quality means: Quality First, Customer Foremost, Pioneering Innovation, Growing Together. To achieve this, we’ve established a comprehensive quality management system within the organization.
“Our effort in quality has resulted in winning the TÜV Rheinland’s “All Quality Matters” award seven consecutive times, along with double Red Dot Design Awards.
“GoodWe believes the core of our business lies in creating values for our customers, which is around creating high-quality and innovative products and systems of renewable energy for customers. We invest around 8% of our revenue each year in R&D, we have more 1,000 R&D professionals at four R&D centers. We are committed to listening to customer feedback to improve our product roadmap. That is part of our win-win philosophy for all of our business partnerships and collaborations.”
Since they launched in 2010, they have amassed a large global presence. The company comes to Canada with an extensive global network of over 150 services employees and 27 sales and services centres.
This growth can be attributed to their “clear business focus”. Inverters are their core product however the company has been transitioning into an end-to-end energy solution provider. Their focus on internal research and development has allowed them to develop a comprehensive product portfolio for customers from residential, commercial and industrial, and utility sectors.
“To support this expanded product portfolio, we have a strong expertise in energy storage and are invested in both hardware and software to drive product innovation,” the company explains.
What does digitization and smart transformation mean from your perspective?
“Digitization is crucial in advancing solar energy and providing more value. It helps make solar energy systems smarter. For instance, digitization enables real-time monitoring, provides controls when adding a battery, enables shade fixing with multiple MPPTs, and supports DC shutdown.”
Can you touch on your Smart Energy Management System, what is the importance of smart monitoring for solar and energy storage?
“GoodWe Smart Energy Management System (SEMS) is a cost-free, real-time monitoring platform that enables operators to monitor a portfolio of PV power plants to improve the system’s financial and energy performance. Extensive data processing, customized charts, and alarm and maintenance functions ensure that operators, operations managers, and asset managers can efficiently manage the systems, ensuring maximum yields.
“SEMS includes a range of functions and features to ensure reliable operation and to deliver precise information to operators at the press of a button. It is accessible by multiple accounts with different levels of access for owners, installers, and EPC companies.
“SEMS has a detailed customizable alarm and reporting management for quick fault analysis and identification allowing installers to correct failures or plant issues, minimizing downtime and ultimately saving money.”
What makes GoodWe a strong partner for Canadian installers?
“GoodWe is a one-stop-shop for all energy-related needs. We are constantly innovating and expanding our product portfolio for a wide-range of energy needs, in both residential and C&I applications. Because we manufacture the products that we develop, we can ensure that our production capacity and quality are consistently high. This translates to robust metal enclosures that reflect the sun light and won’t change appearance over time and aluminum cast housing that retains shape and form, guaranteeing best water ingress environmental protection.
“When you partner with GoodWe, you not only get the backing of a global leader, but also the local support of headquarters in North America that provide training and repair services.”
Go HERE for more information on GoodWe’s product offering at Guillevin
