Bolstered By Q1 Customer Growth, Sunnova Sticks to 2020 Guidance Despite Coronavirus

Friday, 15 May 2020, 21:31:00
Unlike many of its peers, Sunnova Energy is keeping its 2020 guidance in place. The Houston-based residential solar company expressed a “high level of confidence” that it would meet its goals for the year as it reported earnings for Q1 2020. In the first part of the year, Sunnova added 6,800 customers — compared to 3,276 in Q1 2019 — and increased revenue by $3.1 million, to $29.8 million. Though Sunnova more than doubled its net loss over the same period last year, to $77 million, CEO John Berger doesn’t expect that to hold the company back in 2020. “We’re prepared to weather any storm and we’re prepared to do that for at least the next two years if not beyond,” Berger told Greentech Media. “We’re prepared for the worst and hoping for the best.” Over the year Sunnova expects to add up to 30,000 new customers and end with cash flow between $10 and $20 million. Berger said after the first quarter the company was already close to reaching half of its target revenue and income from system loans for the entire year.
— Green Technology (Feed)

Span Raises $10.2 Million for Reinvention of Home Electrical Panel to Optimize Solar, Energy Storage, and Electric Vehicle Charging

Tuesday, 12 May 2020, 10:00:00
SAN FRANCISCO, May 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Span, the rising smart panel company led by executives and lead engineers from Tesla, Amazon Echo, and Sunrun, has raised $10.2 million to transform the electrical panel into an intelligent gateway for every home and expand the adoption of…
— PR Newswire

Residential Demand Response to Play Key Role Managing US Load This Summer

Friday, 8 May 2020, 20:07:00
Heading into summer 2020, looming uncertainty about electricity demand makes flexibility more vital than ever in the United States. In particular, residential demand response faces more pressure than usual, as many people continue to work from home over the next few months. Since the economy’s reopening will be gradual, grid operators need not be too concerned that system peak demand will make demand response events necessary. However, some residential-only distribution feeders may face increasing pressure as air conditioning load rises. Already, some vendors providing customer engagement, analytics and demand response services for residential programs are seeing an increasing need to accelerate demand response targets in some service territories. Time for residential demand response providers to shine The number and diversity of companies that fall into this category is larger than ever. In California, the number of third-party demand response providers registered with the California Public Utilities Commission, has tripled since 2016.
— Green Technology

First Solar Keeps Factories Running During Pandemic but Pulls 2020 Guidance

Thursday, 7 May 2020, 22:40:00
First Solar withdrew most of its 2020 guidance on Thursday despite saying it has not yet felt a major business impact from the global coronavirus pandemic, highlighting the uncertainty facing the global solar market. First Solar executives said that plans to sell the company’s solar-project development business could be delayed as a result of the difficulty of deal-making in the current climate. In February First Solar, the only U.S.-based PV manufacturer among the top 10 globally, said it expected net sales of as much $2.9bn this year and earnings per share of up to $3.75, as it approaches the finish line its multi-year shift to its new Series 6 thin-film modules. That guidance is now gone. Solar module prices are under growing pressure around the world as the market moves further into an oversupply situation. While many PV manufacturers have reopened their factories in the wake of the initial coronavirus outbreak, key solar markets are expected to be flat or even shrink this year amid construction delays, difficult financing conditions, and depressed power demand. “The biggest impact we’re having around guidance is the uncertainty of the capital markets,” First Solar CEO Mark Widmar told analysts on a conference call discussing the company’s first-quarter earnings results.
— Green Technology

SolarEdge and Enphase See Growth Slowing as COVID-19 Hits Inverter Market

Thursday, 7 May 2020, 18:37:00
Solar Edge and Enphase, which together dominate the U.S. market for residential solar inverters, managed to achieve major growth in the first quarter of 2020, but warned of reduced demand in the months ahead due to the global pandemic. Enphase delayed the launch of its long-awaited residential battery systems. SolarEdge: some markets heavily influenced by COVID-19 SolarEdge reported record Q1 revenue of $431.2 million, compared to $418.2 million in the previous quarter and $271.9 million for the same quarter last year. First-quarter net income of $42.2 million also exceeded the $19 million in income from the same quarter last year, but fell slightly from the fourth quarter’s $52.8 million, while gross margin fell to 32.5 percent in the first quarter from, from 34.3 percent in the fourth quarter. CEO Zvi Lando said on a Wednesday conference call that the impacts of COVID-19 are affecting country-by-country installations. In the U.S., where SolarEdge held roughly three-fifths of the residential inverter market through the first nine months of 2019 according to Wood Mackenzie’s U.S.
— Green Technology