Aenert news. Energy Companies
As the results of 2024 have shown, solar energy continues to confidently move towards new records. Of course, first, this applies to the production of electricity through photovoltaics. According to research by the analytical agency Ember, 2130.5 TWh of electricity were generated from all solar sources last year, which is almost 28.6% more than last year. The largest contribution to this volume was made by China, where 834.1 TWh were generated (39% of the global production). In the USA, the volume of solar electricity production amounted to 303.17 TWh, in the EU countries - 303.07 TWh, in India - 133.81 TWh. As of the end of 2024, the share of solar energy in global electricity production was 6.9% (5.6% in 2022 and 4.6% in 2021). At the same time, over the past year, the volume of global electricity generation has increased by 2.9%. Thus, the growth of solar generation significantly exceeds the overall growth of electricity generation from all sources.
As for the growth rate of the share of solar generation, it looks most convincing in China. Here, in 2024, the share of solar generation increased by almost 40% with a growth of total generation by 6.6%. In other countries, these indicators are much more modest. Thus, in the USA, the growth rate of the share of solar energy in the total generation amounted to 22.9% (3.1% total generation growth), in India - 12.3% (5% - total increase in electricity production). In the EU, the growth rate decreased in 2024 to 18.6% from 26.45% in 2023. At the same time, in the EU, the total increase in electricity production was only 1.02%. In Germany, the share of solar energy in 2024 amounted to about 15% with a growth of 20.8%, but the total generation decreased by almost 4%.
Solar cell with sunlight background. Envato Elements. E5P93Z78G2
Based on the data provided, it can be concluded that solar energy, and above all photovoltaics, is developing successfully and is leading among other renewable energy technologies. However, this process is extremely uneven and if China is excluded from consideration, the results will not be so convincing.
Below we traditionally provide excerpts from the financial statements of leading companies in the field of production of solar panels and other components. The exceptionally high competition that has developed in the photovoltaic panel market over the past two years and led to a significant reduction in prices has generally had a negative impact on the financial performance of most companies. But there are exceptions. On the other hand, it is this factor that has largely contributed to the widespread distribution of solar power generation sources around the world.
Longi
Longi Green Energy Technology Company Limited is a public Chinese company, one of the largest manufacturers of silicon products, photovoltaic cells and solar panels. The company owns more than 2,500 patents, and the number of researchers exceeds 4,000. N-HJT Efficiency is 26.81%. Unfortunately, the company has not yet released its financial report for the fourth quarter of last year, so we will use our estimated range of forecast data based on information from various sources.
Based on this, Longi's Total revenue in 2024Q4 may slightly exceed the previous quarter's result of 20,064 million RMB, but is unlikely to reach 21,000 million RMB. Net income will also not leave the loss zone, as it did in the previous four quarters, but will not be lower than 1,100 million RMB. Thus, the company's loss from production activities for 2024 may amount to about 7,500 million RMB. This is largely evidenced by the dynamics of the market value of Longi shares, which, after peaking in 2022-2023, rapidly declined down to the level of 2021. By now, the decline has slowed down, since the bottom of the negative trend has obviously been reached.
Longi. Revenue, net income and share price
Source: Based on Longi
However, Longi's ongoing management optimization in line with current market realities allows us to hope for an improvement in the company's financial performance this year. This may be hampered by new tariff barriers recently introduced by the US administration. Longi operates a 5GW module plant in the US, which is linked to supply chains from China. In addition, some products are shipped to the US from Longi plants in Malaysia or Vietnam. However, the company's relatively low presence in the US market will obviously allow the company to pass this test without serious losses.
First Solar Inc.
First Solar is one of the few to use thin film cadmium telluride (CadTel) technology to produce photovoltaic panels. 2024, like the previous year, was a very successful year for the company. First Solar is one of the few large companies in the photovoltaic product supplier market that has systematically increased sales and generated high profits on a quarterly basis. Net sales last year amounted to a record $4.2 billion ($3.2 billion in 2023 and $2.6 billion in 2022) and 14.1GW of products. Net income reached almost $1.3 billion, which is 55% more than in the previous year.
Total revenue in 2024Q4 was a record $1.514 billion versus $0.794 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. Net income in 2024Q4 was also a record $0.393 billion.
First Solar. Revenue, net income and share price
Source: Based on First Solar
The company in the USA made more than 90% of sales last year.
The company's share price has been consistently high.
The record production and financial performance of First Solar against the background of other companies is obviously connected with the focus on the thin film market, which lives its own separate life. Therefore, it was less affected by the problems in the silicon products market. At the same time, this does not diminish the company's merits in effective management and maintaining a high technological level of production.
JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. is another major Chinese manufacturer of silicon photovoltaic solar modules, founded in 2006 in China. The company is headquartered in Shanghai. In 2024Q4, JinkoSolar supplied 26,462 MW solar modules, including sells and wafers, which was the best quarterly result of the year and 5% more than YoY. At the same time, Total revenue was minimal - $2.89 billion, and Net loss dropped to $65 million. This was the worst quarter for the company in the last two years in terms of financial results.
Jinko Solar. Revenue, net income and share price
Source: Based on Jinko Solar
The company's share price has fallen to the level of four years ago.
Canadian Solar Inc. is one of the world's oldest companies, founded in 2001 and specializing in renewable energy and primarily the production of photovoltaic panels. Headquartered in Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
CSI Solar's module shipments in 2024Q4 were 8.2GW and 31.1GW for the whole of 2024. Net revenues in 2024Q4 were recorded at $1,521 million ($1,670 million for CSI Solar), which is comparable with the results of the previous quarter. But Net loss dropped to $135 million, which was the worst result in recent years.
Canadian Solar. Revenue, net income and share price
Source: Based on Canadian Solar
As can be seen from the chart above, the stock market responded adequately to the decline in Canadian Solar's financial performance.
The clear crisis of overproduction of silicon photovoltaic panels that developed in the market in 2024 led to fierce competition between companies. Despite the increase in production volumes, many of them suffered losses. This is primarily due to a significant reduction in product prices, which started in mid-2023 and continued throughout the past year. Thus, module prices fell by more than 45%, cell prices by about 55%, and wafer prices by 56%. This is based on a decrease in polysilicon prices by almost 50%. Obviously, it is very difficult to maintain business profitability in the context of such a negative price trend. However, no less serious tests lie ahead for the photovoltaic industry, associated with tariff innovations from the United States. As they usually say in this case, the strongest will survive. On the other hand, buyers were the winners, which doesn't happen often.
By the Editorial Board 
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