ReneSola returns to profitability, acquires ‘complementary’ US assets

PV project developer and operator ReneSola Power is doubling down on efforts to expand its business in the US and Europe, targeting a total project pipeline of 1GW by the end of 2020.

The company, which last year moved its headquarters from China to Connecticut, has recently strengthened its position in Poland and Hungary as well as US states such as Minnesota and New York, CEO Yumin Liu said in a conference call yesterday following the publication of its second-quarter results. 

The firm posted revenue of US$26.2 million during Q2, up more than 20% sequentially and almost double (up 93%) than that recorded in the same quarter last year. That growth was largely a result of the sale of 14MW of projects in Hungary.

After recording a loss in the first quarter of 2020, ReneSola posted non-GAAP net income of US$3.6 million in Q2, down from US$5 million in the year-ago period.

The company said the positive figures were also partly due to the sale of a 10.4MW Minnesota community solar portfolio to Nautilus Solar Energy and the connection of 15MW “micro-projects” in Hungary. It also agreed to participate in a consortium to develop a large-scale ground-mounted solar plant in the south of France.

Despite headwinds from COVID-19, ReneSola has seen the full return of normal activity in most of its operations around the world, CEO Liu said. “We don't see any delays or don't expect any delays on the supply chain [or] delivery of the modules,” he added.

To reach its 1GW target, the company is looking to add incremental project pipeline in its core markets of the US, UK, Spain, Poland, France, Germany and Hungary, with each of those countries expected to have a pipeline capacity of 100MW – 200. As of 30 June 2020, the firm’s pipeline was approximately 700MW, with its late-stage pipeline of around 500MW, up from 423MW on the prior quarter.

Publication of the results comes the same week as ReneSola announced an agreement to acquire certain assets from an undisclosed solar developer in the US for US$8 million – a deal that will give it access to US states such as Pennsylvania, California, New York, Maine, Illinois and Arizona.

The acquired team is said to have experience in the development of US distributed generation and small-scale utility projects with battery storage, areas that ReneSola hopes to will complement its background in US community solar and European distributed generation.

During the conference call, Liu said: “We have not yet participated actively in the small-scale utility segments of the market. Because of that, we have virtually no overlap with this developer. As such, the acquisition of [these] solar assets is very complementary to what we do today.”

While anticipating some slowdown in customer activity in FY 2020, ReneSola expects revenue for the year to be in the US$80 – 100 million range.

Tags: renesola, battery storage, china, us, company results, financial results, hungary, germany, uk, france, pipeline, acquisition