At the 2025 SNEC PV Power Expo in Shanghai, global renewable energy equipment manufacturer Sungrow convened a high-level industry dialogue to address a critical inflection point for solar and storage. Once seen as supplementary technologies, both are now core contributors to global electricity supply. Yet as installations surge, the industry faces intensifying competition, waning policy support, and growing pressure to optimize not just component cost, but full system value.
In a dialogue session initiated by Sungrow titled PhD Talk: Evolving Value, Intelligent Future. Sungrow, which has operated in the sector for 28 years, positioned itself at the centre of this paradigm shift. According to the company, the solar industry is moving beyond “cost races” to a more complex contest of system-wide economics, reliability and integration.
Grid absorption constraints are a growing issue as PV penetration nears 30% of China’s power mix, noted Wang Jixue, deputy chief engineer at the China Electric Power Planning and Engineering Institute (EPPEI). Managing reliability, supply security and cost simultaneously will require regulatory, institutional and corporate innovation beyond technical upgrades.
Sungrow’s Chief Expert of Utility PV Inverter BU, Pan Nianan, emphasized the evolving role of inverters—from simple converters to multi-role “traffic interchanges” of smart power systems. The company introduced two pioneer products at SNEC, its upgraded 1+X 2.0 modular inverter and a high-capacity string inverter, both built around its “5A Fusion Solution” approach: all-day cost efficiency, all-scenario reliability, all-link safety, all-life smart O&M, and all-grid forming.
“Inverter innovation has shifted from cost-reduction sprints to value-driven decathlons,” Pan said. Sungrow’s track record includes launching the world’s first 1500V inverter, the first modular split design, and the first 400kW+ string inverter, incremental upgrades aligned with the new industry logic of “system value upgrade.”
This systemic mindset also defines Sungrow’s approach to storage. According to Gaogong Industry Research Institute (GGII), global storage deployments grew by nearly 90% in 2024, but rapid scale is testing the sector’s ability to adapt. “Energy storage is not a sprint but a marathon,” said GGII director Gao Xiaobing. Platformization, rather than standardised product design, emerges as the dominant logic.
To meet diverse regional and scenario-specific demands, Sungrow has unveiled the PowerTitan 3.0 Energy Storage System Platform, drawing on nearly two decades of technical expertise and global project execution. The next-generation platform integrates core innovations across electrochemistry, power electronics, and grid support, enabling the formation of modular, reconfigurable clusters tailored to specific use cases.
Its capabilities are underpinned by five key support systems: full-chain testing, intelligent manufacturing, panoramic simulation, comprehensive testing, and a global application data network. Together, these form a closed-loop system of “simulation–manufacturing–validation–innovation”.
Dr. Cai Zhuang, General Manager of Product Management Center at Sungrow Energy Storage BU, noted that true platformization extends beyond modular product design. It reflects the cumulative depth of technology, product development, and operational data. The PowerTitan 3.0 is redefining the technological foundation of energy storage by delivering enhanced reliability, safety, intelligence, efficiency, and operational agility.
From a global perspective, Sungrow Overseas Grid Model Support Manager Priank Cangy stressed that customers now evaluate storage by its response to real-world grid events and operational resilience. Sungrow’s “Grid to Cell” strategy promotes systems designed from actual grid behavior, transforming static hardware into adaptive networks.
Ultimately, the company argues that in a high-penetration, low-margin market, firms must return to “value fundamentals”: lower LCOE, stronger grid support, and improved lifecycle ROI. Patrick Zank, director at German standards body VDE, said this shift will demand deep device redesign, system-level coordination, and service ecosystem development.
Industry experts say Sungrow’s concept of “value evolution” signals a broader shift in the solar-plus-storage sector—from equipment provision to integrated energy services. In this transformation, the ability to enhance system value density through technological innovation, optimise resource allocation via data intelligence, and build competitive moats through ecosystem collaboration will be critical to long-term resilience.
Sungrow’s competitive edge, it claims, lies in four pillars: nearly three decades of technical accumulation; proprietary multi-electrical architecture; data-driven product evolution; and an innovation “flywheel” that transitions the firm from product supplier to ecosystem orchestrator. In the era of global energy transformation, Sungrow is committed to building a bridge to a sustainable future – providing clean power for people across the globe.
