Maxeon Solar Technologies has improved its results from the previous quarter, with Q3 2022 revenue up, driven by the European distributed generation (DG) business.
For a sixth consecutive quarter, the company achieved record sales and volumes shipped with its DG business in the EU market, primarily in France and the Netherlands.
Sales in the DG market for Q3 2022 were up 25% over the corresponding period in 2021 due to price increases and a higher mix of Maxeon 6 products as well as Europe’s performance.
Within its DG business, the company has been expanding its offer beyond panel product sales to diversify its home energy strategy with the sale of battery solutions, which are expected to start rolling out in the next quarter, as well as new electric vehicle (EV) charging products, according to Mark Babcock, interim CEO at Maxeon since September.
The utility-scale business has seen an increase in shipments too in the US market, with deliveries from its Mexican facility growing further. The company is also ramping up a 1GW PERC module facility in Malaysia to 1GW.
Total shipments for the third quarter were 605MW, in line with the company’s 580-620MW guidance, and up from 566MW in Q3 2021.
The module supplier scaled up its US utility-scale capacity of PERC cell fabrication to 1GW and is on schedule for a full ramp-up of 1.8GW in 2023, which is timed “with extremely high appetite for solar panels from US utility scale customers”, said Babcock during a conference call.
As the company increases production, the shipment growth in the last quarter of the year and in 2023 will largely come from the US utility-scale market.
Meanwhile, Maxeon has fully booked its capacity pipeline until 2025 and has started booking supply agreements for its utility-scale modules with delivery dates into 2028.
Moreover, the manufacturer is working to increase its production in 2025 and will capitalise on the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act by setting up a 3GW cell and module factory in the Southeastern US that will require a US$1 billion investment.
“As we look forward to the next four years, we expect our focus to be primarily on panel manufacturing capacity growth, expansion of our footprint in the US market, and increasingly material contributions from our beyond the panel initiatives,” said Babcock.
Revenue for Q3 2022 reached US$275 million, an increase from last year’s Q3 US$220 million. Nearly half of the revenue came from Europe with US$137 million, while revenue in the US and Canada increased to US$107 million, with the Asian-Pacific market as the only market reducing its revenue year-over-year.
For the last quarter of the year, the module supplier expects its shipments to be between 680-720MW, continuing its upward trend of shipments in 2022.
Revenue guidance for Q4 is US$290 – 330 million.
Conference call transcript from Seeking Alpha.
