Trina Solar shipment and margin guidance cut for Q3

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email

The anticipated pick-up in demand elasticity proved elusive for what is expected to be a common theme of the next few weeks as major PV manufacturers report third quarter results. Another short-term trend will be guidance revisions along the lines announced by Trina Solar, which has cut shipment guidance by approximately 100MW and margins reductions by a few percentage points.

Trina Solar said module shipments in the third quarter would be in the range of 372MW to 375MW, compared with previous guidance of 480MW to 520MW.

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

The company guided that gross margin would be in the range of 10% to 11%, compared to previous guidance of mid to high teens in percentage terms.

Gross margin declines include an inventory write down of approximately US$19 million, potentially reflecting the rapid price declines and another expected trend in the quarter.

Overcapacity and weak demand in key markets should see many PV manufacturers announce production cutbacks and lower utilization rates to reduce inventory of overall overcapacity.

“A deflationary pricing environment impacted by challenging financing conditions for some of our customer's European projects resulted in the shortfall of our targeted shipment volumes,” noted Jifan Gao, Chairman and CEO of Trina Solar. “At the same time, we strived to maintain reasonable gross profits amidst such market conditions.”

“Despite continued challenges in our traditional markets, we believe our efforts to capture or expand business in new and existing customer channels will result in significant orders for the year 2012. Specifically, we are encouraged by the prospects of demand growth in emerging PV markets within the Americas, Asia and Africa. Additionally, we have improved, and will continue to improve, our leading manufacturing efficiencies and cost structure through, among other things, renegotiations of some of our polysilicon and other key materials agreements to position us favorably going forward.”

Trina Solar Based has also revised its outlook for the full year 2011, noting that PV module shipments to be approximately 1.4 GW, compared to previous guidance of between 1.75GW to 1.8GW.

The PV module manufacturer had previously revised down guidance for the second quarter.

Read Next

June 19, 2025
Boralex is driving organic growth across Canada, the US, France, and the UK, fueled by a project pipeline totalling 8GW.
June 19, 2025
Danish renewables firm European Energy has reached financial close on a 137MW utility-scale solar PV portfolio in Australia.
June 19, 2025
Australia-based solar PV module manufacturer Tindo Solar has inked a 15MW solar PV module supply agreement with Vietnam.
June 18, 2025
The solar manufacturing and module purchasing community met in Napa to answer the question of 'what next?' for module supply in uncertain times.
June 18, 2025
Dimension Energy has secured US$360 million in financing to develop a 112MW portfolio of community solar projects across six US states.
June 18, 2025
Spain has released the results of its investigation into the April blackout, which ruled out renewables as the cause of the disruption.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

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
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico