As of Q1 2024, Antai Solar’s global shipments had exceeded 33.2GW, with subsidiaries already established in countries including Spain, Japan, Australia and the US and eight global service and delivery centres covering sales, engineering design, research and development (R&D) and after-sales operations and maintenance (O&M).
Company vice president, Wang Yue, told PV Tech: “We do not want to be caught up in internal competition, fighting over costs and low prices. Focusing on creating high-end products and services, Antai will further optimise its eight service centres to establish a truly mature and reliable system.”
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The release of a white paper (the ‘Antai 3.0 PV Tracking System One-Stop Solution’) has enabled the company to share details of its technical strength and experience in providing a one-stop solution for tracking system projects, including financing services, tracking technology, installation, O&M, delivery services and low-carbon solutions.
“Antai has gone through its initial 1.0 phase, a diversified service 2.0 phase, and has now reached the one-stop service 3.0 phase. It is a very significant milestone. At this juncture, our brand, products, services and philosophy have all undergone qualitative improvements, and we need to make the market aware of this,” Wang continued.
Product is the central element of the one-stop solution, with Antai continually updating its technology and solutions to cater to the market’s diversified and complex application scenarios.
The company’s new ‘TAI-Simple’ product is a single slew-drive 1P tracking system, which protects the main axis of the rack to ensure stable system operation. Supported by Antai’s intelligent tracking algorithm, it can achieve more accurate tracking and, in terms of installation and O&M, it is both easy to install and adaptable to a wide range of terrains.
“We will use products such as the TAI-Simple to create a solution covering product design, after-sales and operation. The original service scope has been expanded to include comprehensive guarantees. We tailor our products and solutions for different markets, especially in Europe, a key market for us where development prospects are very promising,” Wang explained. The continent’s importance is reflected by Antai establishing an overseas R&D centre in Spain in 2022.
The company currently has six major global production bases, and the previously mentioned global service and delivery centres, located in Asia Pacific (China), Europe (Spain), South America (Brazil), South Asia (India), North/Central America (Mexico), Central Asia (Uzbekistan), Southeast Asia (Malaysia) and the Middle East and Africa region (Saudi Arabia).
Cost reduction opens up opportunities for tracking systems
Over recent years, as a result of continual advances in technology and capacity and price volatility, the PV manufacturing industry has been caught in a vicious circle of overcapacity and sharp price drops, intensifying pressure on the upstream sector.
At the same time, the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) of an entire PV system has been reduced in line with declining module prices, allowing for the installation of increasing numbers of systems and a logically wider market for tracker companies.
“Compared to fixed racks, trackers are smarter, lighter and more efficient,” Wang went on. “It sets stricter requirements on our design concepts, wind tunnel testing and construction standards. In particular, as the construction and design standards of each country are completely different, Antai products need to adapt to both PV and construction standards.“
This has not deterred the company from expanding into overseas markets, however. At this year’s SNEC, it signed several contracts, totalling over 1GW, with international companies including L&T, Matgrow, SCG and Cinco.
“We will take on projects that are valued by local governments. Some of them are demonstration projects, which means they are more difficult to build. The demands on us are very strict, but completing these projects will contribute to our future market development,” Wang continued.
In his view, in addition to traditional markets like Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy and France, emerging markets such as Greece, Romania and Poland have significant room for development. “Policy adjustments can advance the capacity of these emerging markets, bringing about an increase in installations and providing companies like ours with new opportunities.”
‘2024 will witness significant growth in shipments’
With the transition to green energy a worldwide consensus, a tripling of renewable installations by 2030 has been predicted by many analysts. Against this backdrop, overseas PV markets are expected to grow at an ever increasing pace, with the international arena a future battleground for Chinese companies seeking to secure market share.
Among Antai’s goals for 2024 is the enhancement of its eight service centres. “Of the eight, Madrid is the most important. We have established dot-shaped service outlets within the scope of the eight locations and service networks in each country are built around the local service centre. As an individual project ramps up and the number of projects in the vicinity of each centre grows, the faster the service centre will be set up.
“On the other hand, if a service centre has less business, set up will be slower,” Wang concluded, adding that enhancing the company’s strength by delivering projects can be regarded as a strategy of “fueling the war with battles.”
In terms of Antai’s 2024 shipment targets, Wang pointed out that this year the company’s overall product and solution shipments are expected to grow by over 70%. Tracker shipments will increase by more than 350% year-on-year, and those for combined tracker and fixed racks will see an uptick of over 500% year-on-year. It will be a year of significant growth.
