SMA Solar's 2021 inverter sales drop because of chip shortage

• SMA Solar Technology's sales for 2021 came in listed below previous expectations for the year as the inverter provider was affected by a shortage of digital chips-- a headwind it expects to persist in the coming months.

The company marketed inverters with an advancing output of 13.6 GW in 2021, compared to 14.4 GW in 2020, suggesting sales were down 4% year-on-year to EUR984 million (US$ 1.09 billion).

SMA attributed this decrease to the "considerable obstacles" in regard to the coronavirus pandemic as well as electronic chips supply, which the firm said came to be significantly strained throughout 2021, with providers not able to please climbing demand as a result of the financial recovery and also boosted digitalisation.

This leads sometimes to "substantial prolongation of shipment periods culminating in delivery failure", the firm claimed.

Jürgen Reinert, Chief Executive Officer at SMA, claimed that as a European maker, the business was particularly affected since electronic component vendors tend to be located in the US as well as have the goods created in China. "Appropriately, the consumers in these areas are provided preferential treatment when it involves provide."

Component shortages were likewise disclosed last year by the likes of Tesla, with chief executive officer Elon Musk keeping in mind that production of the company's energy storage units was being hampered by the global semiconductor chip shortage, while Enphase Energy revealed last July that component accessibility was constricted.

SMA's EBITDA plummeted from the EUR72 million posted in 2020 to EUR9 million last year, which was because of the discontinuation of a long-term contract for solar O&M solutions. A provision for expected losses of EUR34.5 million was recognised for the termination, SMA exposed in its annual report.

The business exited the unfavourable contract in order to cut losses and also cost-free consecutive from monetary worries, Reinert stated, including: "There is nothing else agreement in SMA's O&M portfolio that shows comparable problems."

In regards to SMA's sales by region, around fifty percent came from Europe, the Middle East and also Africa last year, 31% from the Americas as well as 18% from the Asia-Pacific area, with the United States, Germany and also Australia being its primary markets.

Regardless of the less than expected outcomes for 2021, SMA boosted its order backlog to around EUR887 million. It was announced last year that the firm was chosen to supply 109 central inverter units to a 250MW/ 250MWh battery energy storage space system being installed by technology firm Wärtsilä in South Australia.

SMA monitoring has actually validated its 2022 guidance as released previously this month, which forecasts sales of EUR900-- 1,050 million and also EBITDA of EUR10-- 60 million.

For Q1 2022, sales are expected to be EUR210-- 220 million, down on the EUR240.4 million uploaded in the very same quarter last year, as well as EBITDA of EUR12-- 16 million, compared with EUR20.1 million in Q1 2021.

" We anticipate the shortage of electronic components to continue in the coming months," Reinert claimed. "However, we will continue to do all we can to likewise satisfy our order consumption, which continues to be very healthy. In the medium to long-term, we see impressive development potential for SMA."