First Solar Holds Guidance in 2Q

US solar module manufacturer First Solar kept its 2024 volume and revenue guidance unchanged, even as quarterly bookings were down. The company expects to sell 15.6GW-16.3GW and earn $4.4bn-$4.6bn in revenues for 2024, flat from prior guidance.

Bookings were off by 90% to 0.9GW in the second quarter from a year earlier. Year-to-date bookings declined to 3.6GW compared with 21.1GW in the same period of 2023.

Solar module production hit a quarterly record of 3.7GW, compared with 2.8GW in the same period of 2023, when the company was rolling out its Series 7 modules.

First Solar produced 2.5GW of its Series 6 modules in the quarter and 1.2GW of its Series 7 modules.

The company also announced the expansion of its Ohio plant was completed, with commercial shipments starting at the end of the second quarter. The expansion increases its manufacturing capacity in Ohio by nearly 1GW/yr to almost 7GW/yr.

First Solar still expects its 3.5GW/yr plant in Alabama to come online in the third quarter of 2024, while its 3.5GW/yr plant in Louisiana is scheduled to begin production in the second half of 2025.

These expansions are part of the company's long-term plan to grow its global production capacity to 21GW/yr by the end of 2024 and 25 GW/yr by the end of 2026 — US capacity from these expansions would be 14.1GW/yr.

The company still expects to roll out its copper replacement technology, which reduces copper doping with alternative materials and as a result the long-term degradation rate of modules, in the fourth quarter.

Total bookings narrowed to 75.9GW from 77.8GW a year earlier, still maintaining orders out through 2030, the company said.

Second-quarter profit rose to $350mn from $171mn a year earlier, as revenue grew by nearly 25% to $1bn from the same period of 2023.