① Tianhe Solar said, “Affected by supply and demand in the photovoltaic industry chain, the sales price of the company's module products fell year-on-year, and the profitability of photovoltaic modules declined.” ② The reporter noticed that although many leading PV companies increased their annual performance, they all experienced a decline in performance in the fourth quarter of last year. Judging from the first-quarter data disclosed by Trina Solar this time, the performance pressure on photovoltaic companies is still under pressure, and the problem of overcapacity in the industry is prominent.
“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, April 26 (Reporter Yu Jiaxin) On the evening of April 25, Trina Solar released its 2023 annual report and the first quarter results report of 2024. According to the data, benefiting from the increase in the sales share of N-type TopCon module products, in 2023, Trina Solar achieved revenue of 113.392 billion yuan, an increase of 33.32% over the previous year; realized net profit of 5,531 billion yuan, an increase of 50.26% over the previous year.
Unlike the increase in annual performance, Tianhe Solar's net revenue and profit both declined in the first quarter of this year. Of these, revenue was 18.256 billion yuan, a decrease of 14.3% year on year; net profit to mother was 516 million yuan, a decrease of 70.83% year on year.
Regarding the performance of the first quarter, Trina Solar said, “Affected by supply and demand in the PV industry chain, the sales price of the company's module products fell year-on-year, and the profitability of PV modules declined.”
According to the annual report, Tianhe Solar's main business includes three major sectors: photovoltaic products, photovoltaic systems, and smart energy. In terms of revenue composition, PV module revenue in 2023 was 76.449 billion yuan, up 21.15% year on year, the main revenue driver. In terms of gross margin, in 2023, the gross margin of Tianhe Solar PV modules was 15.54%, an increase of 3.67 percentage points over the previous year. At the same time, the company's gross margin of power generation business and operation and maintenance reached 50.46%. Despite a year-on-year decline, it still performed well.
Geographically, in 2023, Tianhe Solar achieved revenue of 10.834 billion yuan in the US, an increase of 99.26% over the previous year, becoming the main revenue driver. The region's gross margin was 34.24%, an increase of 18.19 percentage points over the previous year. In the same period, Trina Solar's revenue increased in both China and Europe, but its revenue in Japan was 894 million yuan, a decrease of 55.35% over the previous year.
In terms of shipment volume, in 2023, Trina Solar Energy's total component shipments were 65.21 GW; the bracket business shipped 9.6 GW, of which the tracking bracket was 4.6 GW; and the cumulative shipments of energy storage tanks were nearly 5 GWh. The company plans to target 80-90 GW of component shipments in 2024.
In terms of production capacity, by the end of 2023, the company's production capacity for silicon wafers/batteries/modules was 55/75/95GW, with overseas production capacity of 6.5 GW, 6.5 GW, and 6.5 GW, located in Southeast Asia; “It is expected that by the end of 2024, the company's silicon wafer/battery/module production capacity will reach 60/105/120 GW.”
The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that although many leading photovoltaic companies increased their annual performance, they all experienced a decline in performance in the fourth quarter of last year. Judging from the first-quarter data disclosed by Trina Solar this time, there is still pressure on the performance of PV companies.
According to market news, the component bid price reached a new low. Recently, Datang's 16GW module procurement bid was opened. The lowest price for the P type was 0.74 yuan/W, the lowest price for the N-type Topcon was 0.79 yuan/w, and the lowest price for the HJT module was 0.89 yuan/W. According to some sources, Trina Solar participated in the bidding for all three segments.
Industry insiders warned that this shows that the problem of overcapacity in the industry is quite prominent. Among them, Jinko Energy and Tianhe Solar both mentioned the risk of overcapacity and increased market competition due to competitive production expansion in their annual reports.
In response, photovoltaic companies have begun countermeasures. Among them, JinkoEnergy stated in its recent annual report, “In 2024, the company will maintain a cautious pace of expansion of production while accelerating the elimination of backward production capacity.”
Meanwhile, Tianhe Solar chose to achieve differentiated competition through integrated optical storage. It stated, “Driven by the dual core business of photovoltaics and energy storage, the company will join forces with 18 upstream and downstream enterprises to build an innovation center for the photovoltaic manufacturing industry and vigorously promote industrial collaboration in optical storage technology.”
The “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter noticed that Tianhe Solar is also increasing its R&D investment in energy storage. According to the annual report, the company has a total of 26 research projects, of which the largest total investment is expected to be “development of special-sized batteries based on containerized energy storage systems”, with an investment amount of 787 million yuan, with an investment of 146 million yuan in the current period. In addition, there are still at least 5 research projects involving energy storage technology. Application prospects include large-scale energy storage, industrial and commercial energy storage, and household energy storage.