Updated: First Solar has guided 2015 PV module shipments almost double those of 2014. The CdTe thin-film leader expects shipments to be in the range of 2.8GW to 2.9GW.
First Solar reported the second quarter 2015 sales of $896 million increase of $427 million from the first quarter of 2015.
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“We achieved significant financial and technological milestones this past quarter with the IPO of 8point3 Energy Partners and a new record module conversion efficiency of 18.6%,” said Jim Hughes, CEO of First Solar. “In combination with year-to-date bookings of 1.4GW and full year earnings guidance of over three dollars per share, we continue to execute across all elements of our business.”
The increase in net sales in the second quarter was said to be due to an increase in revenue recognition from the Silver State South PV power plant project and the sale of majority interests in the North Star and Lost Hills-Blackwell projects.
The company also guided 2015 net sales to be in the range of US$3.5 billion to $3.6 billion, achieving a guided gross margin of 21 to 22%.
Capital expenditure was guided at US$175 million to US$200 million in 2015.
First Solar reported 2Q production of 562.8MW, up from 540.3MW in the prior quarter, achieving an average conversion efficiency of 15.4%, a significant increase over 14.7% in the prior quarter.
Best line module efficiency in the quarter was 16.2%. However, capacity utilisation rates stood at 85% at the end of the second quarter.
Management noted in its earnings call that its was virtually sold-out for the rest of the year, having only around 200MW of capacity available for third-party sales or opportune projects in 2015.
First Solar said that new project bookings in the quarter reached 537MW. Total new bookings in the first-half of 2015 reached 1.4GW, with potential new bookings opportunities increasing by 2.7GW to 16.7GW at the end of the quarter.
However, managment noted that it did not expect to dropdown further projects into its JV yieldco with SunPower in 2015.
Management also noted that it was rapidly reaching a point that it did not have much available to sell in 2016 from the full fleet of production capabilities, leading to the potential reduction in the US ITC.
The company said that it had achieved a US$0.40/W module cost on its lead line that would be migrated to the entire production line fleet by the end of 2015.
With line measured upgrades and line throughput enhancements, management noted that it was technically running all production lines at full-capacity.