Chinese PV Industry Brief: New budget for residential PV, financials for Daqo, Canadian Solar

China's National Energy Administration (NEA) on Thursday officially released its guideline policy for wind and solar power installations in 2021. The document indicates that the incentives from the central government to residential PV will be no more than RMB 500 million (around $77 million). If the subsidy level is RMB 0.05 per watt, this total amount will feed 10 GW of residential PV.

Polysilicon producer Daqo New Energy released its Q1 financial report on Wednesday. In the period, the company achieved sales of$256 million and a gross profit of $119 million, with a gross profit ratio of 46.4%. Quarterly polysilicon production and shipments totaled 20,185 and 21,471 metric tons, respectively. For the entire 2021, Daqo expects total production of 81,000 to 83,000 metric tons. The average total production cost was $6.29 per kg compared to $5.92 per kg in the first quarter of 2020. The average sale price was $11.9 per kg compared to $10.79 in the previous three-month period. Company CEO Zhang Longgen said quarterly sales increased only by 10%, as the expected price increase began after March. He added that price may grow further to up to $20 per kg in the second quarter.

US-listed Chinese-Canadian module maker Canadian Solar reported its shipments reached 3.1 GW and sales increased 32% year-on-year to $1.1 billion in the first quarter. The gross margin was 17.9% compared to a guidance range of 16% to 18%. Net profit for the period was $23 million. At the end of 2020, the company reached a production capacity for ingot and wafers of 2.1 GW and 6.3 G, respectively. For cells and panels, the capacities were 9.6 GW and 16.1 GW, respectively. The company estimates capacities of the four products will grow to 5.1 GW, 10.3 GW, 13.3 GW and 25.7 GW, respectively, by end of 2021. The company expects module shipments in Q2 to range between 3.5 and 3.7 GW. Sales revenue is forecast to be around $1.4 to 1.5 billion, and with a gross margin between 9.5% and 10.5%.

Solar panel provider JinkoSolar announced on Friday that it would sell two PV farms with a combined capacity of 150 MW to a state-owned energy enterprise Three Gorges. The deal is valued at RMB 468 million ($72.6 million) and will provide RMB 182 million ($28 million) in profit before tax for the company. The PV farms are located in Shanxi (50 MW) and Jiangsu (100 MW).