First Solar reported another quarter of solid results in Q4. Even with a US$408 million financial hit, due to tax reform, the company remains in good shape as it transitions to Series 6 production, and raised its 2018 guidance as it plans to bring back some Series 4 capacity to meet its 2+ year backlog of demand.
The company came into 2017 with a 2.8 GW module backlog, which it delivered on during the year. However, during 2017, First Solar booked an additional 7.7 GW of PV modules. And so far in Q1 2018 – through February 22 – it is reporting another 1.3 GW in bookings, bringing the total to a stunning 9.1 GW-DC.
First Solar supplied additional details about the transition to Series 6 during its results call. After producing its first S6 module in November, the company expects to start mass production in Ohio during Q2.
First Solar also reports that over 90% of the front-end tools for Series 6 production have been installed at its factory in Kulim, Malaysia, and expects 1.2 GW of annual capacity to come online in Q3’18 at the plant.
The first coater has arrived at the company’s Vietnam factory, and the company expects to begin S6 commercial production during Q4’18 in Vietnam and during Q2 2019 at its second Vietnam factory.
At that point, First Solar will have 4.2 GW/year of Series 6 capacity. Under this plan, First Solar is sold out of modules through the first half of 2020, and possibly into 2021.
First Solar’s financials were not as promising, however. The company has reported a $408 million expense, due to changes from the recent tax reform, including the BEAT provision.
This is more than the $339 million that it brought in during the quarter, and even before this tax expense, First Solar reported a -10% operating margin, in part due to $20 in ramping costs, and after the tax expense saw a loss of $432 million during Q4.
However, First Solar brought in cash during the quarter and is currently sitting on $3 billion and marketable securities, so it can afford to have a few quarters of losses.
The price per watt of the Series 4 PV module fell 14% over 2017. Concurrently, the PV module gained 3% efficiency in 2017. The fleetwide gain was an absolute value of 0.5%, from 16.4 to 16.9%.
The company highlighted commercial and utility PPAs as a future growth opportunity – referencing an unnamed 180 MW project for a group aiming toward 100% renewable energy. Most of the company’s bookings are still in the US.. – though a 100 MW-AC Australian project pipeline was highlighted.
The company also highlighted electricity utility relationships – specifically an Arizona project that included energy storage, and a Georgia project of 200MW. The Arizona project was called out, due to its load shifting nature – allowing for solar power to be used during the early evening peak demand period.
First Solar ended the call on a positive note, communicating that being sold out, potentially already into 2021, was uncharted waters for them. Analysts asked if there was a possibility of squeezing more volume out of current facilities to meet this demand. It was suggested, at most, a few hundred MW could be gained via U.S. facilities.
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OK. Reading through FSLR financial statements for the 4th quarter on the surface it was awful but because accounting impacts of tax reform and some projects being moved to Q1 2018 because they were not complete, it was not really as bad as the headline. The balance sheet was very good too. The stock drop of today will recover and be close to 100 by the end of the year. The outlook they gave was very good. One sub par quarter does not really matter especially with Solar. With solar some times a bad quarter happens because the quarter before many projects were completed in the prior quarter or will be completed in the next Quarter. Both in FSLR’s case.
“The price per watt of the Series 4 PV module fell 14% over 2017. Concurrently, the PV module gained 3% efficiency in 2017. The fleetwide gain was an absolute value of 0.5%, from 16.4 to 16.9%.”
What is the efficiency for Series 6 , has it improved , whats the point if it hasn’t reach 25 -30 % efficiency to put a foothold on coal ,natural gas uranium etc.
The point is not just the efficiency, but also the price. For utility scale solar farms, space is low in costly with plenty of it. So you just add more lower efficiency solar panels to make up for their lower efficiency, because they are cheaper and you have plenty extra space for more of them. First solar is the leader in thin film technology.