Tier-one PV manufacturer JinkoSolar has raised its module shipment guidance for the full-year. The company expects shipments to be in the range of 4.0GW to 4.5GW, up from previous guidance of 3.3GW to 3.8GW.
The increased guidance could catapult the company from being ranked fourth globally, based on shipments in 2014, to being ranked second behind Trina Solar, should it meet the high end of the revised guidance.
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Rankings positions (based on 2014 shipments) 2 to 5 (Yingli Green, Canadian Solar, JinkoSolar and JA Solar) are converging towards the 4GW-plus range, setting the scene for further rankings shuffle later in the year.
Canadian Solar had recently reiterated full-year guidance of 4.0GW to 4.3GW, while Trina Solar further separated itself from the pack by recently increasing shipment guidance for 2015 to 4.9GW to 5.1GW. JA Solar also reiterated full-year guidance of 3.6GW to 4GW, while Yingli Green has yet to release second-quarter results or update previous shipment guidance of 3.6GW to 3.9GW given in the first quarter of 2015.
Q2 financials
JinkoSolar reported second quarter revenue of US$516.2 million, an increase of 16.4% from the previous quarter and 2015 a 31.6% increase from the second quarter of 2014.
Gross margin was 20.7%, compared with 20.3% in the first quarter of 2015 and 22.6% in the second quarter of 2014. Income from operations was US$38.2 million, while gross profit was US$107.0 million.
Total solar module shipments in the second quarter were 913.4MW, which included 90.4MW for its downstream projects. Solar product shipments to third parties amounted to 915MW, consisting of 823MW of solar modules, 59.5MW of silicon wafers and 32.5MW of solar cells, representing an increase of 15.9% from 789.2MW in the first quarter of 2015.
Kangping Chen, JinkoSolar's chief executive, said: “Global solar demand remains robust, allowing us to build upon our leadership position in a number of key and new emerging markets. We are well positioned in China as the market leader to benefit from the expected strong demand during the second half of 2015. We also made substantial progress in the US where shipments increased by 115% sequentially, In the Asia-Pacific region, we increased our market share substantially in Thailand. Shipments to Japan and the UK returned to normal levels following the year-end rush last quarter but still remain very active and show promising signs of growth.”
Production update
JinkoSolar added 500MW of solar cell capacity in the second quarter of 2015, taking cell nameplate capacity to 2.5GW. The company also added 500MW of module capacity in the quarter, taking nameplate capacity to 4GW.
In the second quarter the company started production at its new plant in Malaysia, which is planned to have a nameplate solar cell capacity of 500MW and a module nameplate capacity of 400MW.
By the end of 2015, JinkoSolar is expecting total module nameplate capacity to reach 4.3GW, while cell capacity will remain at 2.5GW, achieved in the second quarter.
