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ReneSola’s first quarter 2012 results have surpassed the company’s previous expectations with revenues finalized at US$211.5 million and combined solar wafer and module shipments reaching 466MW. The increased revenue shows a 12.7% increase from US$187.7 million in Q4, 2011, while shipments were up 37.1% from 339.9MW in Q4 2011. Gross loss for the quarter was finalized at US$8 million with a gross margin of -3.8%, including a US$12.2 million write-down for inventory. These results compare to a gross loss of US$43.4 million, with a gross margin of -23.1%, in Q4 2011.
The company delivered 90.9MW of solar modules in Q1, of which 10MW were Virtus modules. ReneSola noted that its module manufacturing has reached its maximum capacity and expects to ship nearly 150MW to 170MW of solar modules in Q2 2012. For the full 2012 year, the company is looking to ship almost 600MW of solar modules, of which 200MW are expected to be Virtus modules, and also anticipates increasing its module production capacity to 1.2GW for modules by the end of Q2.
ReneSola expects its wafer business to see some changes in the coming months. In Q1 its blended non-silicon wafer processing costs was US$0.19/W, decreasing from US$0.20/W in Q4 2011. Since costs have continued to come down for this wafer segment, the company is looking to drop its blended non-silicon wafer processing cost to US$0.17/W by the end of Q2 and US$0.15/W by the end of 2012.
The polysilicon division produced almost 900MT of polysilicon, a result which was higher than the company expected, but also demonstrated a decrease from the 1,089MT produced in Q4 2011. ReneSola still expects its polysilicon production capacity to reach 10,000MT through Phase II of its polysilicon production plant by the end of the year.
In its outlook for Q2 and beyond, ReneSola expects total solar wafer and module shipments to range between 460MW to 480MW, with module shipments of 150MW to 170MW. Revenues are anticipated to reach between US$200 million and US$220 million with positive gross margins. Its full year 2012 outlook remains unchanged, with solar wafer and module shipment estimated to span between 1.8GW and 2GW.
