June 7, 2022
Fellow Shareholders,
Our Q1 results were in line with our previous expectations as our project sales for this year were scheduled to ramp beginning in Q2 and accelerate near the end of the year. Q1 revenue was $3.5 million, driven almost entirely by our IPP assets in China and the U.S. Gross margin for the quarter was 32.5% and adjusted EBITDA was $0.6 million.
Looking forward, we continue to be excited about our revenue ramp towards the end of this year and beyond driven by our strong project pipeline. The global macroenvironment has created severe dislocations in markets and industries worldwide and has impacted everyone. For us, we are benefiting from a favorable tailwind and extremely strong demand for solar in our largest market in Europe but are also seeing some slowdowns in the U.S. and China due to supply chain disruptions and recent government actions. We will go into these three markets in detail:
In Europe, our largest market, the solar industry continues to receive increasingly favorable policy support, which is leading to an acceleration of market opportunities. As an example, In May, the European Commission presented the REPowerEU Plan, a response to tackle the climate crisis and end its dependence on Russian fossil fuels. In the REPowerEU Plan, the Commission proposed to massively scale and speed up renewable energy development in the EU and other initiatives, including:
- A higher target share in renewable energy of 45% by 2030 from the proposed 40% share set last year.
- A dedicated EU Solar Energy Strategy that would double the EU's current solar photovoltaic capacity to 320 GWs by 2025 and install 600 GW by 2030.
- A proposal to cut the permitting time for major renewable projects by half and a targeted amendment to the Renewable Energy Directive to recognize renewable energy as an overriding public interest.
In Germany, renewable energy policy has become one of the most important national agendas as it aims to make Germany's power system completely based on renewable energy by 2035. In a recent draft legislation, Germany laid out a plan to more than triple solar capacity to 200 GW by 2030 via tenders and improved support for smaller solar projects.
Further, in Q1, European Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) prices for solar rose by 27.5% year-over- year, according to the Q1 PPA Price Index from U.S. renewables marketplace and procurement platform LevelTen Energy. This significant increase in PPA prices is largely driven by demand directly attributable to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia driving up energy prices across Europe. In addition, we are also seeing an increase of retail electricity providers purchasing spare capacity to meet their own decarbonization and sustainability goals and provide green electricity offerings to their customers. These higher PPA prices have driven up the value of our pre-NTP and NTP project pipeline in Europe.
In the U.S., our second largest market, solar installations in Q1 increased 11% year-over-year. However, utility scale solar installations slowed due to continued pandemic-related challenges in supply chain, inflation, trade risks and lack of regulatory certainty. While this situation has severely impacted large solar project developers, we have not seen any delays to our U.S. based projects that we expect to close this year as the majority of our projects are focused on small to medium sized utility scale and community solar projects which are targeted to reach COD in 2024 and beyond. However, one of our mid-to-late stage projects was impacted by interconnection challenges during the quarter as a result of increasing costs and schedule delays. Despite these near-term challenges, the long-term trend towards renewable energy in the U.S. remains intact and solar continues to be the leading technology in the
clean energy pipeline, accounting for over 50% of all clean power capacity in development in the U.S. On top of this, we welcome the Biden's administration's decision to waive tariffs on solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations for 24 months.
In China, the Covid lockdowns in April and May impacted economic activity and caused severe supply chain disruptions. We expect a portion of our previously planned new IPP projects in China to be impacted and therefore anticipate our year end new IPP project target in China to be closer to 50 to 70 MW.
With strong demand for solar energy, we believe we are well-positioned to capitalize on this opportunity given our deep expertise in developing and operating solar projects, our extensive network of industry partnerships throughout Europe, our well-capitalized balance sheet, and our unmatched track record in closing financing transactions and profitably monetizing projects. This quarter, we welcomed Mr. Himanshu Shah and Ramnath Iyer to our Board of Directors. They bring significant business and capital market experience and expertise on sustainability, environmental, social and governance. We are excited for their contributions to come.
With that overview, we will now review the details of our first quarter operating and financial performance.
Q1 2022 Financial Highlights:
- Revenue decreased 85% sequentially to $3.5 million from $22.8 million in Q4'21
- GAAP gross margin was 32.5%, higher than our guidance range as Q1 revenue was mostly from IPP solar assets
- GAAP net loss was $1.7 million, slightly higher than $1.6 million net loss in Q4'21
- Non-GAAPnet loss was $1.0 million compared to $2.5 million Non-GAAP net income in Q4'21
- Free cash flow was negative $18.2 million versus negative $9.5 million in Q4'21
(in $ millions) | Q1'22 | Q4'21 | Q/Q | ||||
Change | |||||||
GAAP Revenue | $3.5 | $22.8 | -85% | ||||
GAAP gross profit | $1.1 | $7.2 | -84% | ||||
GAAP operating income (loss) | ($2.2) | ($1.4) | -54% | ||||
Non-GAAP operating income (loss) | ($1.4) | $3.5 | -139% | ||||
EBITDA | $0.0 | $0.7 | -107% | ||||
Adjusted EBITDA | $0.6 | $5.3 | -87% | ||||
GAAP net income (loss) attributed to ReneSola Power | ($1.7) | ($1.6) | +7% | ||||
Non-GAAP net (loss) attributed to ReneSola Power | ($1.0) | $2.5 | -140% | ||||
Revenue was composed as follows: | |||||||
Segment | Q1'22 Revenue | % of Total | |||||
(US$'000) | Revenue | ||||||
Project Development | - | - | |||||
IPP | $3,304 | 94% | |||||
Others | $210 | 6% | |||||
Total | $3,514 | 100% |
"IPP" consists of sale of electricity in China and the U.S.
"Other" refers to operations and maintenance.
Revenue breakdown by regions:
Region | Q1'22 Revenue | % of Total |
(US $'000) | Revenue | |
Europe | $194 | 6% |
North America | $210 | 6% |
China | $3,110 | 88% |
Total | $3,514 | 100% |
Mid-to-Late Stage Pipeline Growth Goal
In 2022, we expect to close the year at 3 GWs with a significant portion of the growth coming from Europe due to favorable policy support. We target growth of the Company's mid-to-late stage pipeline to 5 GWs by the end of 2024 with a significant portion of the growth coming from Europe.
The following table details our mid-to-late stage project pipeline by location:
Project Location | Mid-to-late stage (MW) |
U.S. | 552 |
Poland | 620 |
Spain | 304 |
U.K. | 235 |
Germany | 40 |
France | 112 |
Hungary | 102 |
Italy | 34 |
China (IPP) | 74 |
Total | 2,073 |
In addition to the solar PV project portfolio, we also have a storage pipeline of over 2 GWh in the U.S. and Europe at different development stages. About 1 GWh of the pipeline is mid-to-late stage.
Detailed Review of Pipeline by Region
United States
Our mid-to-late stage U.S. projects pipeline now totals 552 MW, down from last quarter due to a project experiencing interconnection cost increases and schedule delays. As a result, we chose to stop pursuing the project. Of our total 552 MW pipeline, 67 MW are community solar projects in Minnesota, Maine, and New York. Additionally, we have projects under development in Alabama, California, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, we operate 24 MW of utility projects in North Carolina.
U.S.A. | Capacity (MW) | Project Type | Status | Expected | Business |
NTP/Sale | Model | ||||
Alabama | 75 | Utility PV + Storage | Under Development | 2023/2024 | NTP Sale |
California | 166 | Utility PV+Storage | Under Development | 2022/2023 | NTP Sale |
Florida | 100 | Utility Scale | Under Development | 2022 | NTP Sale |
Illinois | 48 | Utility PV+Storage | Under Development | 2023/2024 | NTP Sale |
Maine | 12 | DG & Community Solar | Under Development | 2022/2023 | NTP Sale |
Minnesota | 6 | Community Solar | Under Development | 2022/2023 | NTP Sale |
New York | 75 | Community+Utility | Under Development | 2022/2023 | NTP Sale |
Pennsylvania | 70 | Utility Scale PV+Storage | Under Development | 2022 | NTP Sale |
Total | 552 | ||||
Poland
In Poland, we have 620 MW of ground-mounted projects in our mid-to-late stage pipeline.
Poland | Project | Capacity | Project Type | Status | Expected | Business Model |
(MW) | RTB/Sale | |||||
Auction 2020 | Solar farms | 75 | Ground-mounted | Under Construction | 2022 + 2023 | RTB Sale + EPC |
and 2021 | COD | |||||
Current | Including smaller | ~545 | Ground-mounted | Under Development | 2022/2024 | RTB Sale |
Pipeline | scale projects | RTB | ||||
Total | ~620 |
Spain
We have a mid-to-late stage pipeline of 304 MW of ground-mounted projects located in various regions across Spain.
Spain | Location | Capacity | Project Type | Status | Expected | Business |
(MW) | RTB/Sale | Model | ||||
Castillo (three projects) | Alicante | 24 | Ground-mounted | Under Development | 2022 | RTB Sale |
Project Portfolio | Spain | 280 | Ground-mounted | Under Development | 2023/2024 | RTB Sale |
Total | 304 | |||||
U.K.
In Q1, we closed a sale of a 24 MW solar-plus-storage project in the UK to Innova, a company that invests in and operates renewable energy assets. At quarter end, we have a mid-to-late stage pipeline of 235 MW of ground-mounted projects under development.
U.K. | Capacity | Project Type | Status | Expected RTB/Sale | Business Model |
(MW) | |||||
Novergy | 185 | Solar only Ground-mounted | Under Development | 2022/2023 | RTB Sale |
Portfolio | |||||
Others | 50 | Solar-plus-storage Ground- | Under Development | 2023/2024 | RTB Sale |
mounted | |||||
Total | 235 | ||||
Germany
We have secured a late-stage pipeline of 40 MW of ground-mounted projects now under development.
Germany | Capacity | Project Type | Status | Expected RTB/Sale | Business Model |
(MW) | |||||
Project - Kentzlin | 12 | Ground-mounted | Under Development | 2022 | RTB Sale |
Project Portfolios | 28 | Ground-mounted | Under Development | 2023 | RTB Sale |
Total | 40 | ||||
France
In France, we have a project pipeline of 112 MW, all of which are ground-mounted projects.
France | Location | Capacity (MW) | Project Type | Status | Expected RTB/Sale | Business Model |
Project Portfolios | France | 94 | Ground mounted | Under Development | 2022/2023 | RTB Sale |
Project Portfolios | France | 18 | Ground mounted | Under Development | 2022 | Development Services |
Total | 112 | |||||
Hungary
In Hungary, we invest in small-scale DG projects. Our late-stage pipeline has a total capacity of 102 MW.
Hungary | Location | Capacity | Project Type | Status | Expected | Business Model | |
(MW) | RTB/Sale | ||||||
Portfolio with FIT | Hungary | 54 | Ground- mounted | Ready-to-Build | 2022/2023 | COD Sale | |
Portfolio for | Hungary | 48 | Ground- mounted | Under Development | 2022/2023 | COD Sale | |
Corporate PPAs | |||||||
Total | 102 | ||||||
Italy
In Italy, we partnered with two local developers and started to build our pipeline in this important market.
Italy | Location | Capacity | Project Type | Status | ExpectedRTB/ | Business Model | |
(MW) | Sale | ||||||
Opal 1 - Lancia | Molise, Italy | 7 | Ground- mounted | Under Development | 2023/2024 | RTB Sale | |
OpalB - CIRO | Cutro, | 8 | Ground- mounted | Under Development | 2023/2024 | RTB Sale | |
Calabria | |||||||
Project Portfolio | Sicily | 14 | Ground- mounted | Under Development | 2023/2024 | RTB Sale | |
Caggegi | Augusta | 5 | Ground- mounted | Under Development | 2023/2024 | RTB Sale | |
Total | 34 | ||||||
Solid Operating Asset Portfolio with Attractive Long-term Growth Plan
We currently own ~183 MW of operating projects, of which we operate ~159 MW of rooftop projects in China, and ~24 MW in the U.S. In Q1 2022, we connected about 3 MW of newly developed projects in China. The China rooftop solar projects are concentrated in attractive eastern provinces with Commercial and Industrial (C&I) off-takers.
Operating Assets | Capacity (MW) |
China DG | 159 |
- Zhejiang | 44 |
- Henan | 46 |
- Anhui | 31 |
- Hebei | 17 |
- Jiangsu | 13 |
- Shandong | 3 |
- Fujian | 5 |
- Liaoning | 0.2 |
United States | 24 |
Total | 183 |
As mentioned, our new asset development pipeline in China is now estimated to be 74 MW, down from our prior estimate of 114 MW as a result of the Covid lockdowns in China. We intend to own and operate all projects in China as IPP assets. During 2021, we significantly slowed our pace of development, because target projects could not meet our IRR goals due to high material costs and other burdens. We intend to build our asset portfolio in China but will do so in a disciplined manner that ensures we meet our profit goals.
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ReneSola Ltd. published this content on 07 June 2022 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 07 June 2022 20:11:06 UTC.