① In 2023, JinkoEnergy's PV module revenue and gross margin both increased year-on-year, while the gross margin of silicon wafers and photovoltaic cells was still low; regionally, the company's main revenue was still in China, but gross margin declined. ② At the end of 2024, its planned production capacity for silicon wafers, batteries, and modules is 120GW, 110GW, and 130GW.
“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, April 23 (Reporter Yu Jiaxin) Yesterday evening (April 22), Jingke Energy released its 2023 annual report. Benefiting from a sharp increase in PV module shipments, during the reporting period, the company achieved revenue of 118.682 billion yuan, an increase of 43.55% over the previous year; realized net profit of 7.440 billion yuan, an increase of 153.20% over the previous year.
Jinko Energy's main business scope includes photovoltaic business including monocrystalline silicon rods, silicon wafer cutting, battery preparation, and module packaging. In terms of revenue composition, the company's PV module revenue in 2023 was 114.383 billion yuan, up 43.33% year on year, the main revenue; revenue for silicon wafers and photovoltaic cells was 284 million yuan and 1,597 million yuan respectively.
In terms of gross margin, in 2023, the gross margin of JinkoEnergy's photovoltaic modules was 14.43%, an increase of 3.82 percentage points over the previous year. However, the company's gross margins for silicon wafers and photovoltaic cells are at a low level of 0.85% and 0.82%, respectively.
Geographically, in 2023, JinkoEnergy achieved revenue of 44.318 billion yuan in China, which contributed to revenue. However, the region's gross margin was only 6.16%, a decrease of 1.67% over the previous year. In contrast, the company's revenue and gross margin increased in Europe, America, and Asia Pacific over the same period. In addition to the above regions, JinkoEnergy's total revenue in other regions was 10.208 billion yuan, an increase of 148.03% over the previous year.
As one of the first manufacturers to deploy N-type TopCon, Jinko Energy shipped 78.52 GW of photovoltaic modules in 2023. Among them, the N-type shipped 48.41 GW, accounting for about 62%.
According to InfoLink Consulting data, in 2023, Jinko Energy's module shipments ranked first in the industry, which means that after a lapse of three years, the company returned to the top of the module shipment list, breaking Longji Green Energy's record for the first three consecutive years of module shipments since 2020. According to Jinko Energy's plan, in 2024, the company “strives to achieve an annual shipment target of 100-110GW, with N-type shipments accounting for nearly 90%”.
According to the annual report, Jingke Energy has a total of 14 research projects covering various technologies such as components, batteries, BIPV, and energy storage. The largest total investment is expected to be “Research on Key Technologies for High-Efficiency TopCon Batteries”, with an investment amount of 2,870 billion yuan, with an investment of 1,978 billion yuan in the current period.
“In the future, as production costs are reduced and yield increases, N-type Topcon will become one of the main development directions of battery technology.” Jinko Energy said that at the end of 2023, the average efficiency of mass production of N-type batteries was over 25.8%. The average mass production efficiency in the first quarter of 2024 had already exceeded 26%, and the power of N-type modules was about 30W higher than that of P-type products of the same version. At the same time, it mentioned that it will increase the average mass production efficiency of N-type batteries to 26.5% by the end of 2024.
In terms of R&D investment, in 2023, Jingke Energy obtained 1,820 new invention patents, with a total R&D investment of 6.899 billion yuan, accounting for 5.81% of revenue, an increase of 22.87% over the previous year. In the same period, the number of R&D personnel in the company was 2,320, accounting for 4.04% of its total number, and the average salary of R&D personnel dropped from 203,000 yuan in 2022 to 177,000 yuan in 2023.
Looking back at 2023, the problem of overcapacity in the domestic photovoltaic industry was serious, and prices in the PV industry chain dropped all the way down. Jinko Energy admits that after going through many rounds of deep adjustments in 2011-2012 and 2018, a large amount of ineffective and backward production capacity was gradually eliminated, but the overall overcapacity situation has not completely changed.
“If the future growth rate of the downstream application market falls below expectations or even declines, the above production capacity expansion will further intensify disorderly competition within the industry, leading to an unreasonable drop in product prices and a decline in corporate profits. Therefore, the photovoltaic industry may face the risk of overcapacity brought about by competitive production expansion.” This is what Jinko Energy said.
JinkoEnergy said, “In 2024, the company will maintain a cautious pace of expansion while accelerating the elimination of backward production capacity.” A relevant person from the company said in an interview with the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” reporter, “The company currently has a production capacity of about 10GW of P-type batteries. In 2024, the company's main production capacity increase was only 28 GW in Phase 1 and 2 of the Shanxi Project.”
According to the annual report, by the end of 2023, Jinko Energy's production capacity for silicon wafers, batteries, and modules was 85 GW, 90 GW, and 110 GW, respectively; at the end of 2024, its planned production capacity was 120 GW, 110 GW, and 130 GW.
On the same day (April 22), JinkoEnergy announced the “Improving Quality, Efficiency and Reward” action plan, which mentioned that in 2021-2022, JinkoEnergy has accumulated dividends of RMB 1.12 billion. In 2023, the company plans to distribute a cash dividend of RMB 2.24 (tax included) to all shareholders for every 10 shares, for a total of RMB 2,234,507,091.49 (tax included), accounting for 30.03% of the net profit attributable to the owners of the parent company achieved by the company in that year.
“In the next three years, the company will achieve profits in that year. After withdrawing statutory provident funds, surplus provident funds, etc. according to law, if there are no major investment plans or major cash expenses, it is proposed to accumulate cash dividends of not less than 30% of the average annual distribution profit in the last three years, and actively explore plans such as dividends and mid-term dividends for more than one year.” Jinko Energy said.