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Solargiga’s unaudited Jan-Sept revenue spikes 11% on year
with mono ingot and wafer production, as well as the delay of changes to China’s solar policy.
Last month, Solargiga revealed that it had
Oct 16, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Markets & Finance News, Hong Kong, Solargiga, Taiwan
BYD To Start Supply of Batteries to Tesla Soon
batteries to the leading electric vehicle vendor on the planet-- Tesla. The China-based company's senior exec Lian Yubo said during an interview with the state
Jun 9, 2022 // Markets & Finance News, Toyota, Elon Musk, BYD, electric vehicle, CATL, LFP batteries, Lian Yubo, lithium-iron-phosphate batteries, Wang Chuanfu
Worldwide renewable energy jobs grow 6% to reach 12.7 m in 2021
million in 2021, up from 1.25 million a year earlier.
In regards to location, China made up 42% of all renewable energy jobs in 2015, while practically two-thirds
Sep 23, 2022 // Markets & Finance News, Market Research, IRENA
Trina Solar's Photovoltaic Project Boosts Chinese Fisheries
happened?
Trina Solar, a China-based solar panel manufacturer, announced that its 100MW fishery photovoltaic project in Taishan, Guangdong, China, has
Feb 15, 2023 // Plants, China, Asia, Trina Solar, solar model
ISA Assembly Concludes With Trillion Dollar Pledge For 2030
EU backing the ISA, it is clear that the next big target for the bloc, where China is not a member yet, will need to be to make sure that solar does not go the
Oct 22, 2021 // Markets & Finance News, narendra modi, ISA, solar manufacturing, challenges before ISA, Fourth ISA General Assembly, OWOSOG, r, R.K Singh, Solar Hydrogen Initiative, total ISA members
Daqo’s polysilicon business takes a dive in Q2
China-based polysilicon producer Daqo New Energy Corp has been impacted by weaker than expected financial results for the second quarter of 2019, due to the lack of demand in China and record low polysilicon prices.
On all key financial metrics, Daqo reported quarter-on-quarter declines.
The company reported second quarter 2019 revenue of US$66.0 million, compared to US$81.2 million in the first quarter of 2019, and US$63.0 million in the second quarter of 2018. Daqo said the decline in revenue was primarily due to lower polysilicon sales volume and lower ASP.
Longgen Zhang, CEO of Daqo New Energy said, "The second quarter of 2019 was a challenging time for polysilicon industry as prices dropped to their lowest levels in history, particularly for multi-grade products. While prices for mono-grade products declined sequentially, they were relatively stable. We believe that polysilicon supply and demand will balance out and begin to improve when Chinese project developers begin to place orders by the end of the third quarter. Incremental demand from China is expected to gradually exceed the additional supply that is currently hitting the market. We believe polysilicon ASP will begin to improve in the third quarter of 2019 to a level that the majority of marginal high-cost players are able to break even on a cash-cost basis, which we estimate to be approximately US$10.5 to US$11/kg. Moreover, the pricing spread between mono-grade and multi-grade polysilicon products will likely remain significant, because output of mono-grade polysilicon still lags behind market demand and new capacities of mono wafer are still growing."
As a result, gross profit in the reporting period was only US$8.6 million, compared to US$18.3 million in the first quarter of 2019 and $25.2 million in the second quarter of 2018.
However, profits were also impacted by higher polysilicon production costs caused by undertaking annual maintenance, due to lack of demand in the second quarter rather than typically in the third quarter of the year as China demand used to peak in that quarter, due to downstream utility-scale FiT reductions in June. Weaker demand in China has been due to the major changes in PV support mechanisms in China that have only recently been ratified. Impacting profits had also been debottlenecking projects.
The company reported a gross margin of 13.0%, compared to 22.6% in the first quarter of 2019 and 40.1% in the second quarter of 2018.
The loss from operations was US$0.4 million, compared to income from operations of US$9.2 million in the first quarter of 2019 and $18.0 million in the second quarter of 2018.
The Company recorded an operating loss, compared to operating margin of 11.3% in the first quarter of 2019 and 28.6% in the second quarter of 2018. EBITDA from continuing operations was US$10.2 million, compared to US$20.0 million in the first quarter of 2019, while EBITDA margin was 15.5%, compared to 24.6% in the first quarter of 2019 and 43.6% in the second quarter of 2018.
Daqo reported it had US$79.6 million in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash, compared to US$113.7 million as of March 31, 2019 and US$172.5 million as of June 30, 2018.
Polysilicon production volume in the second quarter of 2019 was 7,151MT, compared to 8,764MT in the prior quarter.
Polysilicon sales volume in the reporting period were 7,130 MT in Q2 2019, compared to 8,450 MT in Q1 2019.
Daqo said that average total production cost of polysilicon in the reporting period increased to US$8.12/kg, compared to $7.42 /kg in the previous quarter as a result of the maintenance and debottlenecking.
Polysilicon average cash cost was US$6.65/kg in Q2 2019, compared to US$6.20/kg in Q1 2019.
Polysilicon average selling price (ASP) was US$9.10/kg in Q2 2019, compared to US$9.55/kg in Q1 2019
Manufacturing update
Daqo said that its newly debottlenecked production facilities would enable production volumes in the third quarter to be approximately 9,200MT to 9,500MT of polysilicon, with the total potential costs returning to normal levels of approximately US$7.60/kg.
The company noted that during the second quarter, approximately 80% of polysilicon was sold to monocrystalline customers and that the debottlenecking projects and annual maintenance, would further increase monocrystalline customer sales to account for approximately 85% of total sales in the third quarter of 2019. Upon the full ramp up, we expect that 90% of our total production volumes will be sold to mono customers, including 40% for the N-type mono wafer market.
The company is also undergoing test with select potential customers for its ultra-high purity polysilicon for the N-type mono wafer market. This is being tied into its Phase 4A polysilicon expansion project, which is still expected to be completed by the end of 2019.
Upon the full ramp up, Daqo expected that 90% of total production volumes would be sold to mono customers, including 40% for the N-type mono wafer market.
For the full year of 2019, Daqo reiterated that it expected to produce approximately 37,000MT to 40,000 MT of polysilicon.
Combined with debottlenecking projects, the Phase 4A expansion would lead to a full annual nameplate capacity of 70,000MT by the end of the first quarter of 2020.
However, due to the current market conditions for polysilicon and its balance sheet, plans for Phase 4B expansions were said to be too early to make at that time.
Guidance
Daqo said it expected to produce approximately 9,200MT to 9,500 MT of polysilicon in the third quarter of 2019, with a total production cost of US$7.50/kg. External polysilicon sales would be approximately 9,000 to 9,300MT.
"In early July this year, China's National Energy Administration released a list of 22.8 GW approved solar projects that secured government subsidies for 2019. Combining these approved subsidized projects, grid-parity projects, residential distributed-generation projects, top-runner projects and poverty alleviation PV projects, China is expected to install approximately 40GW to 45GW of new solar PV projects in 2019. During the first half of 2019, China has already installed 11.4GW, which means the installation volumes could triple in the second half of 2019.
Realistically, it will take some time to complete the preparation work for these recently approved subsidized solar projects, which includes detailed designs and rounds of procurement bidding and contract negotiations. All of these stages have to be completed before the actual modules can be shipped. All in all, we anticipate China's solar demand to pick up significantly starting from early September," added Zhang.
For the full year of 2019, Daqo reiterated that it expected to produce approximately 37,000MT to 40,000 MT of polysilicon.
Aug 16, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Markets & Finance News, China, polysilicon, Longgen Zhang, n-type mono, Daqo New Energy Corp, monocrystalline wafer
Coronavirus can trigger PV module, battery cell scarcities in Australia
coronavirus (Covid-19) break out in China can have a months-long effect on the Australian solar field, with PV module accumulations most likely to be worn down
Feb 14, 2020 // Markets & Finance News, Australia, Oceania, Coronavirus
REC Silicon May Sell Montana Facility
expects “a sharp decline” in Q3 shipments, primarily due to lower sales into China and less demand from other semiconductor markets. The softening in demand has
Oct 4, 2019 // Manufacturing News, Markets & Finance News, USA, China, Trump, Asia, North America, REC Silicon, Montana facility, James A. May
'Nuclear power is currently the most costly kind of generation, with the exception of gas peaking plants'
nuclear reactors were grid-connected last year: three in Russia, 2 in China and also one in South Korea. At the same time, five nuclear plants closed last
Sep 24, 2020 // Market Research, France, South Korea, China, United Kingdom, Europe, Asia, North America, Turkey, Russia, United States
As nations reopen, market recovery starts
projects begin building smoothly in the third quarter.
Steady speed
China's solar industry endured relatively couple of impacts from the pandemic, with
Jul 21, 2020 // Opinions, China, Asia, covid-19, MARS CHANG
Debt consolidation proceeds for polysilicon makers
This has driven producers to broaden ability right into areas of western China where electricity prices can be as low as RMB 0.26/ kWh ($ 0.033/ kWh).
Aug 20, 2020 // Manufacturing News, Opinions, China, Asia, Daqo New Energy, TBEA, Cooper Chen
China's CATL Reveals the First-generation Sodium-ion Battery
CATL has actually exposed its first-gen Sodium-ion battery.
This battery would certainly be cost-efficient and also have a high rate of charging with a power density of 160Wh/kg.
The supply chain for these batteries is expected to develop in 2023.
Jul 30, 2021 // Storage, China, Asia, CATL, sodium-ion battery, Zeng Yuqun
Huaneng Power brings online 320-MW floating PV complex in China
Dezhou Dingzhuang photovoltaic or pv (PV) solar park is located in Dezhou, in China's Shandong district, on a storage tank near Huaneng Power's 2.65-GW Dezhou
Jan 4, 2022 // Plants, Floating PV, China, Asia, Huaneng Power, floating solar park
China states United States Section 201 expansion will misshape worldwide trade
as long as they do not undermine the efficiency of the tariffs.
However, China's commerce ministry claimed it hopes the United States will certainly take
Feb 7, 2022 // Manufacturing News, Markets & Finance News, Tariffs, Policy, USA, China, bifacial, Asia, North America, Joe Biden, ACORE, 8 minute energy
China establishes first 2022 solar subsidy pot at US$ 357.2 m.
today China's Ministry of Financing laid out its very first tranche of funding for existing sustainable projects for the upcoming year, making RMB3.87
Nov 18, 2021 // Plants, Commercial, Markets & Finance News, China, Asia, subsidy, decarbonisation