Yingli CEO Says Solar Company Prepared for Drop in Panel Prices

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., one of China’s biggest solar equipment makers, said it is prepared for an industry-wide capacity glut and that its narrowing profit margins are good for consumers.

Declining solar panel prices “isn’t a bad thing, it’s a good thing,” Chief Executive Officer Miao Liansheng told reporters in Baoding, China today. Chief Financial Officer Li Zongwei, at the same event, said Yingli is “looking forward to what will happen after the downturn because we are well prepared for this downcycle.”

Miao said falling profit margins were a positive development because sales will continue to rise and the downward pressure on prices will help more people use solar power.

Yingli is adding capacity to its solar manufacturing plants even as Bloomberg New Energy Finance forecasts photovoltaic cell production capacity will be more than twice global demand this year across the industry.

Yingli has a 36 billion-yuan ($5.6 billion) line of credit from the state-owned China Development Bank Corp. About a fifth of the money Yingli is borrowing for the production expansion is from CDB, Li said in an interview today.

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