Building A Billion-Dollar Solar Company: Canadian Solar CEO Shawn Qu (Part 2)

Sramana: What was your vision for the product or service of Canadian Solar when you started the company?

Shawn Qu: At that time we had two products. The first product was a solar charger which we designed for Volkswagen. They wanted a small solar charger to go with the Jetta cars. My product was the one selected for the project. Another product was a solar home system designed for the people in rural areas without electricity. It was a small product with a 10-watt solar panel and a small 17-hour lead battery and a dc light bulb. It was enough to charge a radio and power two light bulbs for three hours every day. We promoted that product in Tibet and Western China. It really made an impact on people’s lives.

Sramana: When you started with the small product, how did you finance and build the product? How did you handle design, manufacturing, and marketing?

Shawn Qu: The Volkswagen product was a request initiated by Volkswagen. They were producing a new line of Jettas, and that particular car has a slightly high idle leakage current. They are potentially parked in a parking lot for several months before they are purchased and used daily by a consumer. They were looking for a way to maintain the battery level.

As it was a German company, the manager thought about using renewable energy. They sent out a request for information to a few different companies and I received one of those requests. Somehow I was the only one who really looked into how a solar charger could work in a car. When you lock a car and leave it in a parking lot, the interior temperatures can be very high. You also have the windshield glass, which cuts down on the amount of sunshine that enters the car. All of that had to be taken into account when considering the design, and I was the only person who really paid attention to those considerations when designing the product. For that product, the engineering details won the contract.

Sramana: As a result you did not have to market that product, correct?

Shawn Qu: I did not have to market that product. I did have to prove to Volkswagen that even though I was just one person I would be able to get the product produced in three months. I had to convince them that I knew how to manage a product, not that I was just a smart scientist. Essentially I had to do sales and marketing to the Volkswagen engineers and management team.

Sramana: How did you do that? They are a large company and this seems like a significant project.

Shawn Qu: I give credit to the Volkswagen management and engineers for even thinking about using solar for that problem as well as for believing in the substance of my proposal versus a big company name. Other companies such as Shell Solar and BP Solar answered their queries. Volkswagen followed and listened to the details within the proposal. They based their decision on substance.

Sramana: How big was the project financially?

Shawn Qu: That project had revenues of $3 million in the first year.

Sramana: Was that just for the design of the product?

Shawn Qu: That was total revenue. I did the conceptual design in the summer of 2001. In November 2001 I received the purchase order at which time I had to address the production side. I had to set up the factory, organize a team and hire people. In March 2002 we shipped out the first container. We shipped 200,000 units in 2002 with a total revenue of just over $3 million.

This segment is part 2 in the series : Building A Billion-Dollar Solar Company: Canadian Solar CEO Shawn Qu
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