Energy News Monitoring

Canadian Solar was founded in 2001 in Canada and is one of the world's largest solar technology and renewable energy companies. It is a leading manufacturer of solar photovoltaic modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions.

The Company operates in 2 segments: until July 2020 there were MMS (manufacture and sale of solar power products) and Energy (solar power project development and sale). Starting from July 2020 there are CSI Solar (solar modules, solar system kits, China energy) and Global Energy Segment (global solar and energy storage power projects excluding China).

Currently, the Company has around 430 MWp of projects in operation, nearly 7 GWp of projects under construction, and an additional 17 GWp of projects in pipeline. 

According to the News Release “Canadian Solar reports third quarter 2021 results” the Company delivered in the 3^rd quarter 2021 its strongest quarterly performance since the start of COVID, with 34% year-over-year growth and better than expected profitability. As of 30^th September 2021, Company´s revenue increased by 34% year-over-year to $1.23 billion, in line with guidance of $1.2 billion to $1.4 billion. On quarter-over-quarter basis revenue was down by 14% due to the lower revenue from pre-construction project sales.

At the end of the 3^rd quarter 2021 gross margin amounted 18.6%, well above guidance range of 14% to 16% and driven by higher margin contribution from project sales. Net income attributable to Canadian Solar amounted $35 million, or $0.52 per diluted share. As of 30^th September 2021, the Company had 2.9 GWh of battery storage projects under construction and 21 GWh of total storage development pipeline.

Gross profit in the third quarter of 2021 was $229 million, up 24% quarter-over-quarter and 28% year-over-year. 

According to its Annual Financial Report 2020 the Company generated 79.1% of net revenues from CSI Solar segment and 20.9% from Global Energy segment. Total net revenues of Canadian Solar increased by $275.9 million, or by 8.6%, from $3,200.6 million in 2019 to $3,476.5 million in 2020. The increase was primarily due to higher solar module shipments recognized in revenue from CSI Solar segment from 7.9 GW to 10.3 GW, and an increase in revenue contribution from the sale of solar power projects in China. In 2020 Asia contributed 46.6%, the Americas contributed 35.1%, and Europe and others accounted for 18.3% of total net revenues.

Total cost of revenues increased by $304.5 million, or 12.3%, from $2,482.1 million in 2019 to $2,786.6 million in 2020. The increase was primarily due to higher solar module shipments and higher solar module manufacturing costs. Total cost of revenues as a percentage of total net revenues increased from 77.6% in 2019 to 80.2% in 2020.

The total gross profit decreased by $28.6 million, or 4.0%, from $718.5 million in 2019 to $689.9 million in 2020. Total gross margin decreased from 22.4% in 2019 to 19.8% in 2020.

The total operating expenses increased by $9.9 million, or 2.1%, from $459.6 million in 2019 to $469.5 in 2020. Operating expenses as a percentage of total net revenues decreased from 14.4% to 13.5% year-over-year.

Revenues generated from CSI Solar segment accounted for 77.5% and 79.1% of total net revenues in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Revenues generated by CSI Solar segment increased by $513.9 million, or 19.8%, from $2,591.2 million in 2019 to $3,105.0 million in 2020. $987.4 million of the increased revenues was attributable to a 46.6% increase in volume of shipments of solar modules and offset by $473.5 million attributable to a 15.3% decline in the average selling price of solar modules. Solar system kits revenues generated by CSI Solar segment increased by 35.4% year-over-year, from $116.4 million in 2019 to $157.7 million in 2020. In addition, China project sales increased by 201.9%, from $58.1 million in 2019 to $175.4 million in 2020. Battery storage solutions, newly introduced in 2020, generated revenue of $7.9 million. Cost of revenues of CSI Solar segment increased by $518.7 million, or 26.2%, from $1,977.5 million in 2019 to $2,496.2 million in 2020. The increase was primarily due to increased solar module shipments and higher module manufacturing costs.



Revenues generated from Global Energy segment accounted for 22.5% and 20.9% of net revenues in 2019 and 2020, respectively. Revenues generated by Global Energy segment increased by $7.5 million, or 1.0%, from $718.7 in 2019 to $726.2 million in 2020. This increase was primarily due to an increase of $2.8 million in sales of solar power projects.

Segmentally, gross profit for CSI Solar segment decreased by $4.8 million, or 0.8%, from $613.7 million in 2019 to $608.9 million in 2020, primarily due to a decrease in the average selling price of solar modules and an increase in solar module manufacturing costs. Gross margin decreased from 23.7% to 19.6% over the year.

Gross profit for Global Energy segment increased by $35.2 million, or 30.9% from $113.9 million in 2019 to $149.1 million in 2020, primarily due to a more favorable mix of solar power project sales. The Gross margin increased from 15.8% to 20.5% over the year.

Research and development expenses decreased by $1.9 million, or 4.0%, from $47.0 million in 2019 to $45.2 million in 2020. Research and development expenses as a percentage of total net revenues were 1.5% in 2019 ana 1.3% in 2020.

As a result of the foregoing, the Company recorded net income attributable to Canadian Solar of $146.7 million for the year 2020, which was a decrease of $24.9 million, or 14.5%, compared to net income of $171.6 million in 2019.

As of December 31, 2020, the Company had $1,178.8 million in cash and cash equivalents and $461.0 million in restricted cash.

In 2019 and 2020 Canadian Solar made capital expenditures of $291.2 million and $334.8 respectively to maintain and increase ingot, wafer, cell and module manufacturing capacity and to develop solar power systems.

The Company sees module sales and China project (including electricity) sales as important items for going forward and expects their revenues to increase in the future.

For the fourth quarter of 2021, the Company expects total revenues to be in the range of $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion. Gross margin is expected to be between 14% and 16%. Revenue for the full year of 2022 is expected to be in the range of $6.5 billion to $7.0 billion.