Solar tech supplier sees innovation as key to drive Chinese clean energy firms' global expansion

A leading Chinese solar technology supplier said that innovation will help China's clean energy firms expand their global presence with high-quality, cost-effective products.

Zhong Baoshen is chairman of LONGi Green Energy Technology, one of the world's premier solar supplier based in Xi'an, the provincial capital of Shaanxi in China's northwest. He firmly believes that technological innovation will continue to drive the growth of his company, in an interview with the China Global Television Network (CGTN) in Beijing.

"At LONGi, we expand our market mainly through technological innovation. Last year, we introduced a new technology product. The high-efficiency and high-quality Back Contact (BC) solar cell technology has enabled our product to rapidly secure a foothold in the market. To date, our product has been well received by customers in China, Europe, and around the rest of the world," he said.

Zhong highlighted the competitiveness of Chinese clean energy products in the global market, as well as the role they play in pushing forward the green transition of other countries' economies.

"It is fair to say that the vast majority of countries and regions around the world now welcome Chinese photovoltaic companies and are eager to use Chinese photovoltaic products as soon as possible because of their cost-effectiveness as a source of clean energy," said Zhong.

Solar tech supplier sees innovation as key to drive Chinese clean energy firms' global expansion

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight