PV giant Trina Solar (688599. SH), ushering in the latest personnel changes. Gao Haichun, 32, is the new co-chairman of Trina Solar and president of the company's solutions business group.

Gao Haichun and Gao Jifan, the actual controller and chairman of Trina Solar, have a father-daughter relationship. After serving as the co-chairman of the company, Gao Haichun will assist Chairman Gao Jifan in carrying out the daily work of the board of directors, ensuring that the work of the board of directors is carried out in a standardized manner and plays a strategic guiding role.

1. Gao Haichun served as co-chairman

and President of the newly established Business Group

Trina Solar announced that in order to further improve the corporate governance structure and promote the standardization of the work of the board of directors, all directors of the company unanimously agreed to elect Gao Haichun, the daughter of the chairman, as the co-chairman of the third board of directors of the company, and concurrently serve as the president of the company's solution business group, leading the company's transformation from a photovoltaic product manufacturer to a photovoltaic storage smart energy solution service provider.

According to the announcement, Trina Solar has established a new solution business group to provide one-stop smart energy solutions for centralized and distributed application scenarios, and build and promote new application scenarios such as "new microgrids" and "zero-carbon parks". Co-Chairman Gao Haichun will also serve as the President of the Company's Solution Business Group, leading the company's transformation from a photovoltaic product manufacturer to a provider of photovoltaic energy storage smart energy solutions, helping the company build a differentiated competitive advantage.

At the same time, Gao Jifan, chairman of the company, will continue to serve as the chairman, executive director and general manager of the company, and guide the company's overall strategic planning and operation management.

Trina Solar said that the election will better execute the company's strategic blueprint and build a sustainable new energy system. At the same time, after serving as the co-chairman of the company, Gao Haichun will assist the chairman in carrying out the daily work of the board of directors, and the term of office will be from the date of deliberation and approval of the board of directors to the date of expiration of the third board of directors of the company.

According to the resume, Gao Haichun was born in 1993 and graduated from Brown University in the United States with a bachelor's degree. Since June 2017, he has successively served as the Deputy General Manager of the Strategic Investment Department of Trina Solar Co., Ltd. and the Chairman of Trina Fujia Energy Co., Ltd.; Since June 2024, he has served as a director of Trina Solar Co., Ltd.; Since December 2024, he has served as President of the Solutions Business Group of Trina Solar Co., Ltd.

Gao Haichun has a father-daughter relationship with Gao Jifan, the controlling shareholder and actual controller of the company, a mother-daughter relationship with Wu Chunyan, a shareholder who holds more than 5% of the company's shares, a concerted action relationship with Jiangsu Panji Investment Co., Ltd., a shareholder who holds more than 5% of the company's shares, and Gao Jiqing, a director and senior manager of the company, as an uncle and nephew. As of the disclosure date of the announcement, Gao Haichun directly held 18,079 shares of the company.

2. The profitability of photovoltaic products has declined

According to public information, Trina Solar is a world-leading provider of photovoltaic smart energy solutions, and its main business includes photovoltaic products, photovoltaic systems, and smart energy. Photovoltaic products include R&D, production and sales of photovoltaic modules; photovoltaic systems include system product business and power station business; Smart energy is mainly composed of energy storage solutions, photovoltaic power generation and operation and maintenance, intelligent microgrid and multi-energy systems.

As of the close of trading on January 3, Trina Solar's share price was 18.66 yuan per share, with a total market value of 40.7 billion yuan.

Image source: Photo by reporter Kong Zesi

According to a previous report by Chinanews.com, Gao Jifan, the founder of Trina Solar, graduated from Nanjing University with a bachelor's degree, and later studied for a master's degree under Academician Tang Aoqing, the "father of quantum chemistry in China". He resolutely gave up the opportunity to study abroad for a doctorate and devoted himself to entrepreneurship.

At the age of 23, when he went south to Shenzhen, three classmates crowded into the corner of the warehouse to start, taught themselves Cantonese, and developed six products in six months. "In our twenties, we often don't have enough to eat, so we eat 10 packs of instant noodles and a few bags of pickled vegetables in one meal, but everyone is very excited every day."

Just over December

8, 2024, Trina Solar announced that it had terminated the planned spin-off of its holding subsidiary, Trina Fujia Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Trina Solar"), to be listed. In the announcement, Trina Solar emphasized that the move is a strategic decision based on industry development trends and its own advantages.

Trina Rich is the main body of Trina Solar, focusing on the distributed photovoltaic power generation market, providing distributed photovoltaic system solutions and digital energy management business for the distributed photovoltaic market. Gao Haichun is the chairman of Tianhe Fujia. A year and a half ago, on April 22, 2023, Trina Solar announced that it had begun planning for the spin-off and listing of its holding subsidiary, Trina Fujia.

2023 is a year of high prosperity for distributed photovoltaics. However, from the end of 2023 to 2024, the price of the photovoltaic industry chain will decline sharply.

In the first three quarters of 2024, Trina Solar's operating income was 63.147 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 22.16%; The net profit attributable to the parent company was 847 million yuan, a year-on-year profit turned into a loss, and the net profit attributable to the parent company decreased by 116.67% year-on-year. Regarding the change in performance, Trina Solar said that it was mainly due to the year-on-year decline in the selling price of photovoltaic module-related products and the decline in the profitability of photovoltaic products during the reporting period due to the impact of supply and demand in the photovoltaic industry chain.

Changes in the industry environment are an important factor in the decline in performance. On October 18, 2024, the Photovoltaic Industry Association issued a document pointing out that since the second half of 2023, China's PV module prices have continued to decline, and the bidding market has frequently seen below-cost quotations.

Source丨Daily Economic News Comprehensive

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