Solar manufacturer Canadian Solar has recorded a 1% quarter-on-quarter increase in net revenues in the fourth quarter of 2024, but the company’s annual revenues fell 11% year-on-year from 2023 to 2024, to US$1.5 billion.
The company posted net income of US$33.9 million in the fourth quarter of the year, an increase over the losses of US$14 million endured in the previous quarter, and is a return to the positive income seen in the first two quarters of the year. The US$33.9 million figure is also the highest net revenue figure reported in any of this year’s quarters.
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This growth has been underpinned by a record year for module shipments, with the manufacturer selling over 30GW of modules in 2024, and 8.2GW in the final quarter of the year.
This is in line with the 8.2GW of modules shipped in the final quarter of 2023, and the 8.4GW of modules sold in the third quarter of 2024, and suggests that module shipments have become a reliable component of the company’s balance sheet, compared to the average selling price (ASP) of individual modules, which has fluctuated over the course of the year. These trends are shown in the graph below.
Another new component of the company’s balance sheet is its storage offering, with Canadian Solar shipping 6.6GWh of battery storage projects in 2024, a mammoth 500% year-on-year increase. Alongside its financial reports, a number of Canadian Solar leaders pointed to the growth in its storage sales as a key reliable contributor to growth in the fourth quarter of the year.
“The industry and Canadian Solar are undergoing a transition,” explained Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Dr Shawn Qu. “While near- to mid-term uncertainties persist in the solar market, demand for energy storage is accelerating. Storage is increasingly compelling, both in stand-alone applications and when paired with solar, driven by growing energy demand from sectors such as data centres and electric vehicles.”
“Energy storage was a key profitability driver, as we delivered both quarterly and full year shipment records,” added Yan Zhuang, president of CSI Solar, Canadian Solar’s manufacturing subsidiary. “While we anticipate margin normalisation in this segment, our priority remains scaling volume and further diversifying our global footprint.”
Storage and manufacturing drives growth
Canadian Solar has already made a number of announcements for its storage arm this year, including plans to provide technology and servicing to a Strata Clean Energy project in Arizona. As the global storage sector grows, both co-located with solar projects and as standalone facilities, storage could prove to be a more lucrative investment in the long term.
The company currently has a battery development pipeline of 75.1GWh, including 9.9GWh under construction and in its backlog, which has grown from the 66GWh backlog reported in the third quarter of this year. This also compares favourably to the company’s solar project pipeline, which sits at 24.9GWh as of the end of 224, including 2.9GW of capacity under construction and a backlog of 4.2GW.
Manufacturing has also consistently been a lucrative component of Canadian Solar’s business. While CSI Solar’s net revenue fell to US$5.7 billion in 2024, from US$7.2 billion in the previous year, this is significantly higher than its owner-operator subsidiary, Recurrent Energy, which reported US$318 million in net revenue in 2024. These trends are shown in the graph below.
CSI Solar also expects to expand its ingot, wafer and module manufacturing capacity by the end of 2025, to 33GW, 37GW and 61GW, respectively but expects to contract its cell manufacturing capacity from 48.4GW at the end of 2024 to 36.2GW at the end of 2025. Its project developer subsidiary Recurrent Energy, meanwhile, has delivered less stable financial returns, with the subsidiary’s revenue falling in each quarter of this year.
Its gross profits fell to US$65.5 million in 2024, down from US$204.7 million in 2023, while its operating expenses increased from US$108.1 million to US$155.6 million. These changes delivered a collapse in operating margin, from 19.4% in 2023 to -27.8% in 2024, but Canadian Solar expects the work of its manufacturing and storage segments to provide stability in the early parts of 2025.
The company expects total revenue in the first quarter of this year to range from US$1-1.2 billion, while module shipments are expected to be between 6.4-6.7GW, figures that would all be in line with the totals reported in the first quarter of 2024.
