Wednesday, July 23, 2014: Australian-trained Shi Zhengrong’s life has been nothing short of a roaler-coaster ride. There was a time when his solar photovoltaic (PV) firm ‘Suntech Power’ was making rapid inroads in the renewable energy domain, with the New York Stock Exchange valuing his stake at over a whopping $3 billion during late 2007. A series of excessive expansion and poor investments followed and the one time giant was brought down to its knees. With the firm now neck deep in US debt (to the tune of $576 million as of February 2013), Suntech Power’s future was all but over.
With that said, Suntech still managed to hold on to its research and development unit in Australia: something that has helped the firm a great deal in reviving its lost fortune. The unit is currently working with the leading solar unit of the University of New South Wales on wide range of renewable energy projects. Renamed as Wuxi Suntech Power, the firm is now making a resurgence with the revival being backed by Hong Kong-based billionaire, Cheng Kin Ming’s Shunfeng group.
“Last year we got into some trouble. The biggest problems were financial, and we expanded into the wrong projects.” Wu Hui, director, global marketing, Wuxi Suntech was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying. However, after receiving a fresh breath of life, Wuxi Suntech is now eying to triple its last year’s output of 800 megawatts to as much as 2.4 gigawatts this year.
