From the deputy general manager of the company's strategic investment department, the company's director, to the current co-chairman, Gao Haichun, the daughter of Gao Jifan, the founder of Trina Solar (688599), has been increasing her identity. Born in "93", "second generation of light", and a market value of 40 billion, these labels have also made Gao Haichun "popular" outside the photovoltaic circle. On January 6, Trina Solar said in an interview with a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that after Gao Haichun became the company's co-chairman, he would assist Chairman Gao Jifan in carrying out the daily work of the board of directors to ensure that the work of the board of directors is carried out in a standardized manner and plays a strategic guiding role. In addition to the personnel changes, Trina Solar has recently established a new Solutions Business Group, and Gao Haichun will also serve as the President of the Solutions Business Group of the listed company, leading the company's transformation into a smart energy solution service provider for photovoltaic storage, which is also an important strategic plan for the company after the current situation of the photovoltaic industry has slowed down. In the future, Gao Haichun's leading position in listed companies can be seen.

Gao Haichun, who wears many hats

When it comes to Gao Haichun, his identity as the "second generation of light" comes from his father Gao Jifan and Trina Solar, a listed company founded by Gao Jifan.

In 1997, shortly after the establishment of Trina Solar, Gao Jifan personally participated in the construction of the "Bright Project" in Tibet, and failed to return home for many years. In public, Gao Haichun once said that she couldn't understand her father's behavior at that time. Now, Gao Haichun, who is only 32 years old, has also joined this "team" and has become Gao Jifan's right-hand man, and his role in the company has been increasing, and he was recently elected as the co-chairman of the board of directors.

According to Trina Solar's announcement, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the newly revised Articles of Association and the actual situation of the company, in order to further improve the corporate governance structure and promote the standardization of the work of the board of directors, the board of directors of the company has added one co-chairman. All directors unanimously agreed to elect Gao Haichun as the co-chairman of the third board of directors of the company, 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.

Because she was born in 1993 and has outstanding appearance, and is the daughter of Gao Jifan, after Trina Solar's above news was disclosed, Gao Haichun's popularity quickly spread outside the photovoltaic circle.

It is understood that Gao Haichun graduated from Brown University in the United States with a bachelor's degree. In June 2017, Gao Haichun entered the company as the deputy general manager of the company's strategic investment department and the chairman of Tianhe Fujia Energy Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianhe Fujia"). It is particularly worth mentioning that under the leadership of Gao Haichun, Tianhe Fujia also applied for IPO listing, but the order was withdrawn in December 2024 and failed to realize its dream of ringing the bell and going public.

Trina Solar told Beijing Business Daily that the termination of the planned spin-off of Trina Fujia in December 2024 is a strategic decision made by the company based on the development trend of the industry and its own advantages.

In addition to the above positions, Gao Haichun also began to serve as a director of Trina Solar in June 2024, and is now elected as the co-chairman of the listed company, which is also another new position that Gao Haichun has "unlocked" after half a year.

It should be pointed out that Trina Solar has also set up a new solution business group to provide one-stop smart energy solutions for centralized and distributed application scenarios, and 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 photovoltaic storage smart energy solution service provider.

Up to now, Trina Solar's main business includes photovoltaic products, photovoltaic systems, and smart energy, of which photovoltaic products include the research and development, production and sales of photovoltaic modules; photovoltaic systems include power station business and system product business; Smart energy is mainly composed of intelligent microgrid and multi-energy system business, power generation business and operation and maintenance.

Transform while slowing down

In 2024, the photovoltaic industry will face unprecedented challenges, with the fourth round of adjustment cycle, involution vicious competition, enterprise "blood loss", and industry self-discipline...... There is a lot of talk around industry issues. In the current market environment, Trina Solar has not been spared, and the company's performance and stock price have been affected.

In the first half of 2024, Trina Solar's PV module shipments reached 34GW, energy storage shipments reached 1.7GWh, bracket shipments totaled 3.2GW, distributed system shipments exceeded 3.2GW, and the scale of PV power plants operated and maintained reached 14GW.

With the vicious competition in the PV industry, the price of products in the PV industry chain is also declining, and the price of module products is declining, which also directly affects Trina Solar's performance. In the first three quarters of 2024, Trina Solar's attributable net profit was about -847 million yuan, compared with a profit of 5.077 billion yuan in the same period last year.

Regarding the company's performance, Trina Solar told a reporter from Beijing Business Daily that the price of photovoltaic module products continued to decline. In addition, the company's advantageous market (the United States) and advantageous sectors (residential distribution) are facing strong external uncertainty, and the company's choice is to slow down into the corner and not to take too many risks, so what we saw in the third quarter is the state of phased deceleration of the company's advantageous market. "As for how these risk factors evolve in the future and whether the deceleration strategy is correct, it will take time to observe. However, the strategy is by no means static, but should match the pace of change in the industry, and now the industry is in a stage where the external environment may change rapidly, the company will always pay close attention to the development trend of the industry, and make the optimal strategic adjustment in combination with marginal changes. Trina Solar said.

In the secondary market, Trina Solar's share price has fallen significantly since September 2022. As of the close of trading on January 6, Trina Solar's share price was 18.47 yuan per share, down 1.02% on the day, with a total market value of 40.25 billion yuan, and the total intraday market value once fell below 40 billion yuan.

As for the company's solution business, Trina Solar also told Beijing Business Daily that the company's solution business has grown rapidly in recent years, and its revenue has exceeded the company's overall revenue by 30%, constituting the company's "second growth curve". The establishment of the solution business group means that the company's transformation from a manufacturer to a solution service provider will be accelerated. Trina's distributed system business and operation and maintenance business are the sectors closest to the terminal and provide customers with full life cycle services, which will become an important part of the company's solution development strategy.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Ma Chang Wang Manlei