Sino-German cooperation boosts Germany's energy shift

Aerial photo taken on June 24, 2022 shows the building of the Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) in Ningde, southeast China's Fujian Province. (Xinhua/Lin Shanchuan)

HEFEI, Aug. 30 (Xinhua) -- Gleaming in the sunlight, rows of photovoltaic panels are neatly arranged in the Weesow-Willmersdorf solar park, located 26 kilometers northeast of Berlin, Germany.

The solar park is expected to provide electricity to 50,000 households and reduce carbon emissions by 129,000 tonnes per year. The inverters, which maintain the stable and efficient operation of the park's energy system, come from Sungrow Power Supply Co., Ltd., a Chinese company that is a leader in the research and development of solar inverters.

This photovoltaic project is the epitome of the Sino-German joint promotion of clean energy development and energy transformation in recent years.

Germany has set the ambitious goal of ensuring that, by 2030, 80 percent of its electricity will come from renewable energy. More and more Chinese companies are joining hands with Germany to achieve this aim.

According to Moritz Rolf, a vice president at Sungrow Europe responsible for Benelux, Central, Eastern, Northern Europe and Turkey, the company has shipped more than 20 GW of products to Germany, a significant contribution to Germany's transition from fossil fuels to 100 percent renewable energy generation.

"Since joining Sungrow's German office in 2016, I have been actively striving for cooperation between Germany and China in the renewable energy industry and clean energy transition. We see that, for many German jobseekers, meaningful work is becoming increasingly important," Rolf said.

On July 27, a batch of essential production-line equipment arrived at a battery production plant in Gottingen, Germany. The plant was established by Gotion High-tech Co., Ltd., a Chinese battery cell manufacturer, and the equipment delivery marked a new production stage for the base.

In June last year, the company held an opening ceremony for the base, which has a planned capacity of 20 GWh, representing an essential step toward the European market.

At the end of 2022, China's electric vehicle (EV) battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (CATL) said that its first overseas plant in Thuringia, Germany, had started mass production of lithium-ion battery cells as scheduled.

According to CATL's announcement in July, its overseas factories are progressing smoothly, with its plant in Germany ramping up production capacity.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies are also keeping up with the trend of energy innovation, and exploring new low-carbon and high-efficiency paths together with the world.

"Solar power alone will not achieve Germany's energy transition goals. Other important contributors are battery storage, hydrogen generation and decreasing the emissions of the traffic sector," Rolf said.

According to Rolf, the R&D team of Sungrow in the Netherlands is currently developing the newest EV charging solutions both for homeowners and fast charging. Additionally, the company's R&D team in Germany is supporting the development of hydrogen solutions, which Sungrow will soon integrate into its product portfolio to combine solar power with the production of clean hydrogen as an alternative to natural gas.

In June this year, Xiang Haiping, chief engineer of the National Energy Administration, stated at the 11th China-Germany Economic and Technical Cooperation Forum that, as important forces in the global green energy transformation, China and Germany have extensive common interests and broad cooperation space, and should further deepen cooperation and join hands to meet challenges and inject positive energy into the global energy transition.