Sunnova continued to reduce net losses in the closing quarter of 2021 despite interconnection delays in late December, helping reduce the company’s net loss year-on-year.
The US residential installer added 18,500 customers in Q4 2021, taking its total of customers additions for the year to 87,900 and its cumulative customer count to 195,400.
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That figure was around 2,000 short of the midpoint guidance issued for 2021, which Sunnova attributed to interconnection delays caused by the US experiencing a surge in COVID-19 infections linked to the Omicron variant in late December.
Sunnova is, however carrying these customer additions over into its 2022 target, raising its customer addition guidance for the year to between 85,000 and 89,000. Sunnova meanwhile reaffirmed its financial guidance for 2022, forecasting adjusted EBITDA of between US$117 million and US$137 million and customer interest payments from solar loans of between US$45 million and US$55 million.
The US residential installer’s growth in customer additions – driven by its acquisition of residential solar platform SunStreet last year – helped drive revenue to US$241.8 million for the full year, up by more than 50% on 2020.
This, in turn, helped the business more than halve its net loss for the year to US$147.5 million.
“2021 was a landmark year for Sunnova, marked by significant improvement in the financial performance of the company despite numerous challenges that faced the economy as a whole,” said William Berger, founder and CEO of Sunnova.
Sunnova’s adjusted EBITDA was US$17.7 million for Q4 2021 compared to $10.0 million for Q3 2020, while its adjusted EBITDA was US$85.9 million for the full year 2021 compared with US$59.6 million for 2020. This was down to customer acquisition increasing at a faster pace than expenses, it said.
