Ocean has over 25 years of global electronic manufacturing and solar industry experience, and as you can see from the articles linked here that date back to more than a decade ago, Ocean has a foresight in the solar industry that is unlike any other. Peter Drucker says “The only definition of a leader is someone who has followers”, and because of Ocean’s holistic understanding of the solar industry, he has followers in droves.
Ocean Yuan was born in a small village in eastern China during the cultural revolution. Ocean, his three siblings, and his parents shared half of a 400-square-foot shack. They were not even able to afford shoes until he was seven years old, but he had dreams of coming to America and building a life for himself. Defying all odds, Ocean came to America in 1990, graduated from the University of Oregon in 1993, and became a United States citizen in 1995.
Since then, Ocean has held many critical management and leadership roles with leading EMS companies including Jabil and Solectron. Ocean was vice president of operations for the world’s largest semiconductor distributor until 2007 when he was recruited into the solar industry.
Along the way, he served as an independent director with publicly traded solar companies in Hong Kong and the United States. He is also an award-winning entrepreneur and is often consulted as a leading expert on global industry trends.
Ocean’s long-term vision is Grape Solar’s Oregon Solar Industrial Park, which is now being brought to life and will begin production by the end of 2023. This park will produce 10GW of solar panel components. Over the next five years, Ocean Yuan will lead Grape Solar in building four more parks around the United States for a total of 50GW of solar panel components being produced each year, permanently changing the landscape of the American solar supply chain and securing the next generation’s future energy needs.
