On April 23, Sunshine Power, a leading optical storage company, released its 2023 report stating that operating revenue during the reporting period increased 79.47% year on year to 72.51 billion yuan; net profit to mother increased 162.69% year on year to 9.44 billion yuan. Both indicators hit new highs in recent years.

2023 is the “big year” for China's photovoltaic power generation installations. According to data released by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA), China added 216.88 GW of PV installed capacity in 2023, with a year-on-year growth rate of 148.12%. The installed capacity in December alone is equivalent to the installed capacity for the whole of 2021.

Image source: Sunshine Power Annual Report

The market “blowout” led to a rise in the solar power business, which mainly focuses on photovoltaic inverters and photovoltaic investment and development, which are the main components of photovoltaic power generation systems. The annual report shows that in 2023, the global shipment volume of solar power photovoltaic inverters reached 130 GW, an increase of 68.8% over the previous year. Meanwhile, in 2023, Sunshine Power's gross margin increased by 5.81 percentage points to 30.36%, and the net profit growth rate to mother hit a 13-year high.

However, the high growth rate of the industry in 2024 may be difficult to continue. The China Photovoltaic Industry Association previously predicted that China's new PV installed capacity is conservatively estimated at 190 GW in 2024, lower than in 2023. Under optimistic circumstances, it is estimated to be 220 GW, which is basically the same as 2023.

National power industry statistics for January-March released by the National Energy Administration also show that although PV installed capacity still increased 36% year on year in the first quarter, the new installed capacity of PV fell 32% year on year to 9.02 GW in March, showing the first decline in the monthly installed capacity growth rate in many years.

Sunshine Power has also mentioned many times that the growth of the inverter market is slowing down. In previous investor exchanges, Sunshine Power predicted that the growth rate of inverter demand will slow down in 2024; its 2023 annual report also mentioned that “competition in the inverter market is still fierce. If the company cannot maintain its leading edge in technological innovation, new product development, and cost control, the product will face the risk of a decline in product gross margin.”

In the first quarter of this year, the scale growth of solar power supply has slowed down. According to its 2024 quarterly report, during the reporting period, the company's revenue increased only 0.3% year on year to 12.614 billion yuan, which is basically the same as the same period last year; net profit to mother performed well, increasing 39.1% year on year to 2,096 billion yuan.

In addition to the power electronics conversion equipment business such as photovoltaic inverters, Sunshine Power's energy storage system revenue last year was 17.8 billion yuan, an increase of 75.79% over the previous year. The gross margin of this business was 37.47%, an increase of 14.23 percentage points over the previous year, and the gross margin increase was the highest among all businesses.

In the field of new energy investment and development, by the end of the reporting period, Sunshine Power had developed and built more than 40 million kilowatts of photovoltaic/wind power plants worldwide. In 2023, the business's revenue was 24.744 billion yuan, up 113.15% year on year; gross margin was 16.36%, up 4.6 percentage points year on year.

In December 2023, Sunshine Power announced the start of preliminary preparations for the spin-off of Sunshine New Energy and listing on domestic stock exchanges. According to previous data disclosure, the valuation of Sunshine New Energy has reached 18 billion yuan.