LONGi director steps down to head up R&D centre

Zhenguo Li, the previous director of LONGi, a prominent Chinese solar manufacturing company, has resigned from his position to concentrate on the company’s research and development activities. Li officially announced his resignation in a letter dated May 23. Following a board meeting on May 26, Baoshen Zhong, the former president of LONGi’s Solar Technology Company, will succeed Li as the new director.

In his new role, Li will serve as the director of LONGi’s Central Research Institute and Chief Technology Officer of its Technology Management Centre. LONGi assured that these staffing changes will not disrupt its business operations.

LONGi is a key player in the global solar manufacturing industry and shipped more than 16GW of solar modules in the first quarter of 2025. Alongside other top manufacturers like JinkoSolar, JA Solar, and Trina Solar, the total shipments of solar modules in Q1 surpassed 65GW.

Known for its advancements in back contact (BC) solar cell technology, LONGi showcased its innovations at the Intersolar Europe conference. The company introduced a white paper on BC technology in collaboration with Aiko and Radovan Kopecek of the German solar research center ISC Konstanz. Additionally, LONGi recently launched a heterojunction back contact (HBC) technology module for residential use.

The upcoming conference aims to bring together key stakeholders in PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making, strategy, and investment to discuss the future of PV manufacturing beyond 2030.