SMA Solar reports ‘solid’ H1 2024 results, led by Americas and utility-scale businesses

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
SMA Solar factory in Germany.
“The global PV market has developed very inconsistently this year,” said SMA Solar CEO Jürgen Reinert. Image: SMA Solar Technology AG.

German solar inverter manufacturer SMA Solar has published its latest financial results, reporting sales of €759.3 million (US$829.4 million) in the first half of the year, compared to €778.9 million (US$850.8 million) in the first half of 2023.

The company described its results as “solid” in a “challenging market”, with a number of weaker financial results than in the first half of the previous year. The company’s earnings before inflation, taxation, depreciation and amortisation fell from €125.3 million (US$136.9 million) to €80.6 million (US$88 million), while the order backlog for its products almost halved, from €2.5 billion (US$2.7 billion) to €1.4 billion (US$1.5 billion).

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

SMA Solar’s financial performance has also worsened half-on-half. The graph below demonstrates how, in neither the first nor second quarter of this year, its sales volume exceeded €400 million (US$436.9 million), whereas both the third and fourth quarters of 2023 saw sales volume exceed this total. The distributed sectors in particular struggled, with both the commercial and industrial (C&I) and residential sectors reporting less than €100 million (US$109.2 million) in sales in each of the first two quarters of this year.

Credit: PV Tech.

“The global PV market has developed very inconsistently this year,” said SMA Solar CEO Jürgen Reinert. “Incoming orders in the home and C&I segments continue to be influenced by the high inventory levels at distributors and installers. In addition, electricity prices have gone down, which in many countries is resulting in postponed investments and restrained final demand, as well as excess capacity by Chinese manufacturers, which is putting additional pressure on the market.”

The oversupply of solar products to Europe, particularly from the Chinese market, is nothing new. Last year, S&P Global’s Edurne Zoco told PV Tech Premium that a “toxic” stockpile of Chinese modules had reached the European market, with supply of new modules vastly outstripping demand, and in the first half of this year, Europe was responsible for importing close to half of all Chinese PV exports.

However, SMA’s utility-scale business has flourished in this environment. In the second quarter of this year, its sales of inverters for the large-scale sector reached €307 million (US$335.3 million), more than double the sales volume of the second quarter of 2023. This is in line with the high of €327 million (US$357.2 million) achieved in the final quarter of last year, and builds on a strong performance in the utility-scale sector achieved in the first quarter of this year.

The challenging European market has also contributed to a shift in the distribution of SMA’s sales figures. In the first half of 2023, Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) accounted for 75% of the company’s €779 million (US$850.9 million) of sales volume, across all sectors of the solar industry, while the Americas accounted for just 20%. In the first half of this year, as total sales volume has remained relatively stable, at €759 million (US$829.1 million), the Americas accounted for 41% of sales, compared to 50% in EMEA.

Looking ahead, SMA expects relatively strong sales figures for the remainder of the year, perhaps inspired by the company’s strong performance in the utility-scale sector and the Americas market.

The company has confirmed its revised sales forecast of between €1.6-€1.7 billion (US$1.8-1.9 billion) by the end of this year, some 10-20% lower than the the €1.9 billion (US$2.1 billion) of total sales volume achieved in 2023.

However, the company expects its earnings to fall considerably more, from €311 million (US$339.7 million) in 2023 to between €80-130 million (US$87.4-142 million) by the end of this year.

2 December 2025
Málaga, Spain
Understanding PV module supply to the European market in 2026. PV ModuleTech Europe 2025 is a two-day conference that tackles these challenges directly, with an agenda that addresses all aspects of module supplier selection; product availability, technology offerings, traceability of supply-chain, factory auditing, module testing and reliability, and company bankability.
10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

June 9, 2025
Sonnedix has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Renfe to supply 420GWh of renewable energy annually for its commercial operations.
June 6, 2025
Independent power producer (IPP) NOA Group has reached financial close on a 349MW solar PV project in South Africa.
June 6, 2025
Eternal Sun has acquired German solar simulator provider Wavelabs, which has resulted in the formation of a new subsidy, Wavelabs Eternal Sun.
Premium
June 6, 2025
Europe must secure the 'strategic segments' of the solar supply chain, according to experts at a PV Tech panel at this year's Intersolar event.
June 6, 2025
ElectraNet has revealed that renewables supplied 100% of South Australia's electricity demand for 27% of 2024, roughly 99 days.
June 5, 2025
Investment in clean energy and grids will reach US$2.2 trillion in 2025, double the expected investment into fossil fuels this year, according to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
June 17, 2025
Napa, USA
Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece