Longi At 2025 Wef Annual Meeting: Solar Beating All Expectations
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, also known as the Davos Conference, kicked off on January 20 th in Davos, Switzerland . This years meeting, themed Collaboration for the Intelligent Age, has attracted nearly 3,000 global leaders from over 130 countries and regions to address key global and regional challenges. Zhong Baoshen, Chairman of LONGi and Eric Luo , Vice President of LONGi, attended the conference as representatives of Chinese solar photovoltaic enterprises. They shared the latest developments and future trends of the solar energy industry with numerous political elites and business leaders.
On the afternoon of January 21 st , Zhong Baoshen attended the Ideas Hub session themed Solar: Beating All Expectations and delivered a speech. Vice President Eric Luo shared insights from the perspective of a leading solar photovoltaic PV enterprise, highlighting how exponential growth in the solar PV industry has injected new momentum into achieving global climate goals.
Zhong Baoshen introduced that the photovoltaic industry has achieved remarkable development, not only experiencing exponential growth but also playing a significant role in the energy transition process. From 1954 to 2022, it took 68 years to surpass the first terawatt, while the second terawatt was achieved in just two short years. This highlights the rapid development of the solar industry in recent years. The International Energy Agency IEA forecasts that by 2030, the global installed capacity of solar PV is expected to exceed 4,000 gigawatts GW. However, I personally believe it will surpass 5,000 GW.
Nowadays, the cost of solar PV systems has dropped to approximately 1/820 of what it was in 1975. Eric Luo highlighted the world records set by LONGi in 2024, including a 27.30 efficiency for monocrystalline silicon solar cells and a 34.6 efficiency for crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cells. He emphasized that LONGis relentless commitment to technological innovation has not only boosted conversion efficiency but also reduced the levelized cost of electricity LCOE. These efforts have significantly bolstered the global push towards achieving net-zero emissions.
Zhong Baoshen pointed out that the installed capacity of solar PV will see a several-fold increase in just a few years, with its development speed far surpassing previous expectations. Solar PV is now an unstoppable force, becoming the core driving element of the global energy transition and profoundly reshaping the global energy landscape.