ET Solar Group, whose 2008 US initial public offering bid was thwarted by the global financial crisis, has repositioned itself in the market as an innovator rather than a copycat.

The Nanjing, Jiangsu Province-based company, established in 2005, is deviating from the approach of most Chinese solar companies by repositioning itself as a solutions provider and project developer rather than a panel and module maker.

Chief Executive Dennis She said the failed IPO bid forced ET Solar to switch to a business model that offered higher added value and sustained growth.

The decision has proven to be adroit.

Today, many onetime industry leaders and darlings of Wall Street have fallen victim to the debts they accumulated expanding capacity as overseas demand shrunk, oversupply increased and trade frictions raised barriers.

China’s Suntech Power Holdings, once the world’s largest solar panel maker, last year defaulted on a US$541 million bond, leading to bankruptcy proceedings. LDK Solar is struggling to avoid a similar fate. The New York Stock Exchange initiated proceedings last month to delist the Jiangxi Province-based company.

While its competitors stumble, ET Solar is heading back to the capital markets to fund its expansion. It has plans to raise US$250 million in early 2015 with an initial share sale in the US for its project-development unit.

The unit plans to develop 300 megawatts of solar farms this year, up from 130MW in 2013, She said. ET Solar, which maintains its manufacturing unit that can produce one gigawatt of solar panels annually, aims to use all the panels for its own projects in the next five years.

She shared his thoughts on ET Solar’s listing plans, future development and the solar industry in general during a recent interview at the company’s headquarters in Nanjing.

Q: Why do you want to transform ET Solar from a solar photovoltaic maker to a project developer?

A: Initially, we were forced to make a transformation decision in 2008 because we failed to catch the US IPO bonanza. Before that, ET Solar just simply followed others. We started making solar modules when we saw others were doing so. We started making cells, and then silicon wafers and then a bid for an IPO when we saw others doing so.

We kicked off our IPO bid in 2008, but a week later, the financial crisis broke out. Before that, many Chinese solar companies were raising big sums of money from US IPOs, with each company getting US$100 million at least.

I believed other solar companies would rapidly expand their manufacturing capacity with the money they raised from capital markets, and, at that time, it was easy to get bank loans even though borrowing costs were quite high. It meant that ET Solar was no longer on the same platform with its rivals in terms of capital strength, so we had to change.

Q: So you are not bullish on the solar manufacturing sector?

A: If you look at all the mature manufacturing sectors in China, such as solar panels, auto parts and aluminum extrusions, you will find overcapacity is a common problem. You cannot make money because the industry entry threshold is not high and similar capacity can be easily copied by others and expanded. I would say it’s the winter of the solar manufacturing industry.

Q: What about solar farm project development? Do you fear it will face the same situation of oversupply?

A: By developing and investing in solar farms, we are actually making the cake bigger, which means we don’t need to grab market share from others. When we first decided to enter project development, we were thinking about finding an exit gate for the mass panel manufacturing capacity.

Q: What are the sources of revenue in project development?

A: We make money from providing services, such as engineering, procurement and construction of solar farms, and from the operation and maintenance of the farms. It’s somewhat like an estate management company. Sometimes we also sell solar projects to seek returns.

Q: What are the main risks in project development?

A: Project development is not only about technology. It’s also about financing ability and government relations. We suffered losses in some Central European countries when governments started levying additional taxes in the middle of project development. So, when making investment decisions in a certain market, we are careful to assess policy stability, sovereign rating, energy mix and future energy demand.

Q: What are the key markets for your project-development business?

A: We have worked out a 12-nation strategy that includes the US, China, Japan, the UK and Mexico.

Q: Why do you want to revive an IPO now, and why, again, a US listing?

A: We have to go public to raise funds for projects. With the money, we can get started immediately whenever we spot a good project. Some projects in this industry could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and that size would be difficult to achieve through the A-share market.

We expect to close a new round of private financing to raise US$30 million to US$35 million this month. After that, we will kick off the IPO, which shall take two to three quarters to complete. It could be a listing on either Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange.

The US capital market has been recovering, and investors there are increasingly professional. We also prefer the US market because it is more flexible. For example, it’s very difficult to win approval to issue convertible bonds in China but easy in the US.

Q: Some solar companies have proposed so-called “crowdfunding” — which allows large numbers of people to invest small amounts in solar farm projects. How do you view this approach?

A: Crowdfunding is a typical Internet-based way of raising money, but I don’t think it’s suitable for our industry. What if a solar farm is having some problems in operation? And chances are big there will be some problems. The solar industry shouldn’t let average people without any knowledge of power generation share the risk.

Q: But we know some state companies are providing insurance to crowdfunding-backed solar projects.

A: If a state company is willing to guarantee the return on a project, why does it need crowdfunding? Every bank would be willing to lend.