240. The CHINT Blueprint, or the Chinese Solar revolution from the inside - Aug26

**SPEAKER_1** (0:04)
With Laurent Segalen from London and Gerard Reid from Berlin, this is Redefining Energy.

**Gerard Reid** (0:10)
Today on Redefining Energy, we're going to take a look of what's going on in China and the world of solar, Laurent.

**Laurent Segalen** (0:18)
And China came to us in Munich in June, where we were at that massive exhibit called, well, I don't even know what it's called. We used to call it Intersolar. How is it called now?

**Gerard Reid** (0:30)
It's now called the Smarter Europe or Smarter Europe. I don't even know. My God. Come up with these crazy names, right? Intersolar is so easy, right?
It used to be solar, but now you've got batteries and you've got EV charging and you've got technologies in and around inverters, battery management systems, et cetera, et cetera. I don't know how many halls that were there, Laurent.

**Laurent Segalen** (0:53)
18

**Gerard Reid** (0:55)
Crazy.

**Laurent Segalen** (0:55)
18 halls and I think they have 100,000 visitors.
Anyway, during the course of Intersolar, Gerard, through our friends Jonathan Gifford, you've been able to get a studio room. Yeah.

**Gerard Reid** (1:11)
We interviewed the head of Astro Energy and the head of the new energy technology business within Chint. Best way to describe Chint is it's the Chinese version of Siemens. That's what it is.
Big transformer, they're in lots and lots of different things. I think it was great to be able to sit down with Dr. Lu and have a chat about what was going on in China, really.

**Laurent Segalen** (1:33)
Now, I want to complain a bit about the logistics because when we arrived in the studio, there were only two chairs. So I sacrificed myself. You did the interview and I was on the carpet.
There was no chematization. So there was sweating that was really painful. Yeah.

**Gerard Reid** (1:49)
The thing that I concluded out of Intersolar this year is we're going to call it inter-air conditioning next year because the cooling across the whole event was a disaster. I mean, there was some halls where it seemed like the cooling worked and then there was others that none. And it was 36 degrees outside and I went home early from the event because my hotel had no air conditioning. It was absolutely crazy.
But it's a good story because this has been the European summer, right? We've just hit all-time highs and temperatures across most cities. And what you realize is the cities in Northern Europe are not set up to have three weeks of 35 degrees, you know, weather.

**Laurent Segalen** (2:28)
Okay, let's listen to your interview with Dr. Chuan Lu.

**Gerard Reid** (2:33)
Juan, welcome to the show.

**Chuan Lu** (2:36)
Thank you.

**Gerard Reid** (2:38)
Listen, here we are sitting in Munich, what used to be called Intersolar.

**Chuan Lu** (2:42)
Right.

**Gerard Reid** (2:43)
And now it's called Smarter E-Europe. And both of us been coming for well over a decade at this point in time, right? So maybe we start there and just talk a little bit about the sort of journey that we've all been on in this solar space and your reflections over this last 10 years.

**Chuan Lu** (3:00)
Yeah, we were in Munich and I started joining this show more than 10 years ago. Yeah, I think 2012 That was my first time joining this renewable show, but mainly PV by that time. I think there's also a lot of European player for Solar Module and also a lot of come from China for module manufacturing and the show is most likely for PV panel show.
But I mean, after more than 10 years developments, the player now more and more turn from pure PV into battery, baths or hybridized renewable solution. So I think this is a global recognized trend. Also, today is extreme warm in Munich. That also reminds us that we still have a lot of things to do. We still got a lot of distance to work, to achieve a greener and a cleaner world. So I think that's also quite important.

**Gerard Reid** (4:06)
Yeah, I think actually that's an interesting point as well, is that if we look at most Northern Europe, we don't have air conditioning. But I think if we're here in 10 years time, not only will we have an air conditioned room that we're to be in, but I think we'll have air conditioning everywhere. The climate is changing in North Europe, it's becoming warmer, right?

**Chuan Lu** (4:24)
Yes, I think so. I believe there will be a new space for air conditioning business. So, but we should do a new, maybe new version of air conditioning, which is a more elemental friendly way.