Solar developer ReneSola Power is looking to expand into further European markets after slowdowns in the US and China contributed to a revenue collapse in its opening quarter.
A strong policy environment in Europe, made stronger by the recent REPowerEU plan, has caused the developer to eye an expansion across the continent, with ReneSola Power CEO Yumin Liu telling analysts and investors today the company is “investigating the opportunities” to enter newer markets.
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“We are considering currently adding at least one or two more countries in our planned activities by talking to our existing partnerships and the joint venture partners in Europe,” said Liu.
The expansion plans follow a near revenue wipeout in the opening quarter, revenue having stood at US$3.5 million, down 85% from the US$22.8 million registered in Q1 2021. The performance was, however, in line with the company’s outlook and is a result of its independent power production (IPP) assets in China and the US, ReneSola said.
The solar developer had already forecast for solar projects sales to start ramping up during Q2 and will continue to accelerate throughout the year.
ReneSola’s project development unit’s mid-to-late-stage pipeline currently stands at 2GW and is expected to reach 3GW by the year’s close. A significant portion of this is coming from Europe – Poland leads all countries with 620MW, followed by Spain (304MW) and the UK (235MW) – due to favourable policy support, mentioning among other initiatives Germany’s plan to more than treble its solar PV capacity to 215GW by 2030.
The company’s European pipeline increased by 107MW during the quarter, mainly from projects in Hungary, Spain and the UK, said Liu.
“To put it simple, with the context of our largest market, Europe, benefiting from favorable policies as well as higher PPA prices, we are excited to see the value of our pre-NTP and NTP project pipeline in Europe increasing,” added Liu.
Moreover, the company expects to reach 5GW of mid-to-late stage pipeline by 2024, with Europe again acting as the main market for growth.
Aside from solar PV, ReneSola has a 2GWh of storage pipeline between the US and Europe, of which 1GWh is in mid-to-late stage.
ReneSola has reiterated its forecast expectations for 2022 with revenue ranging between US$100-120 million with projects sales starting to ramp up in Q2 and with revenue between US$13-16 million.
Net profit for the fiscal year remained between US$9-10 million and a gross margin for the year of 20-25%.
Conference call transcript from Seeking Alpha.