Shanghai, June 2024: guests of Sunman Energy

The fair and the evening. In mid-June 2024 the SNEC PV Power Expo was on in Shanghai.¹ In the evening Sunman Energy invited us to its “Customer Appreciation Dinner”, the customer evening for its tenth anniversary. The host was the founder himself.

The host. Dr Shi Zhengrong founded Sunman and chairs the company.² Before that he built Suntech, once one of the world's largest solar manufacturers.³ We celebrated with him and talked about the market.

Modules without glass. Under the eArc name, Sunman makes solar modules without glass: the cells are carried by a polymer composite. The modules are flexible, follow curved surfaces and are around 70 per cent lighter than conventional glass modules; they can be glued to the surface instead of being screwed to a mounting structure.³ Production includes a 1 GW factory in Yangzhong, Jiangsu province.²

Why it matters. Many hall roofs cannot carry conventional modules: glass, frames and mounting weigh more than the structure allows.³ So far those roofs stay empty. A module with barely a third of the weight changes that calculation — and with storage behind the meter, power from the roof also becomes power for the evening.

What we offer. Through our connection to Sunman we can source and deliver the modules — for industrial roofs, halls and other surfaces with little load reserve. Whether a roof can carry them and how they are fixed is checked by a structural engineer first. Talk to us.