United Renewable Energy Co (URE, 聯合再生), the nation’s biggest supplier of solar cells and modules, yesterday said that it is considering raising prices further in the second half of this year due to rising raw material costs.
Prices of solar modules increased 15 percent in the first half of this year, following a spike in prices of polysilicon and ethylene vinyl acetate film, URE chief financial officer Pan Lay-lay (潘蕾蕾) told an online investors’ conference yesterday.
As of the end of March, prices of polysilicon had surged 140 percent to US$17.8 per kilogram from US$7.5 in July last year after Chinese suppliers cut production, Pan said.
Photo: Chang Hui-wen, Taipei Times
Silicon wafer prices have risen 70 percent to US$0.54 per unit during the same period, she said.
“Price pressure remains heavy in the third quarter,” Pan said. “The company will adjust its operations and prices to reflect the uptrend of raw material prices.”
URE’s gross margin was minus-1.6 percent in the first quarter, compared with minus-9.4 percent in the first quarter of last year.
Solar modules used to deliver gross margin of between 10 and 15 percent, Pan said, adding that spikes in raw material prices and shipping costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic weighed on last quarter’s margin performance.
The company’s net loss last quarter narrowed to NT$554 million (US$19.87 million) from a net loss of NT$713 million a year earlier, and Pan said that financial pressure is easing, as the firm reported a 50 percent reduction in depreciation costs this year.
URE is positive about this year, as revenue is expected to grow significantly from last year’s NT$12.51 billion due to strong demand from overseas and domestic markets.
“We have received more solar module orders than what we can supply. The new large-scale solar projects we landed this year are the main reason for the strong growth,” Pan said.
URE aims to capture a more than 50 percent share of Taiwan’s solar module market this year, Pan said.
The nation is expected to install about 2.2 gigawatts of solar energy systems this year — a conservative URE forecast, she said.
Overseas, URE would this year ship more than 1 gigawatt of solar modules to countries such as the Dominican Republic and the UK, Pan said.
The firm is also expanding into the battery energy storage system market and expects the new business to contribute about NT$1 billion in revenue next year, she said.
URE earlier this month clinched an order worth NT$668 million from Taiwan Power Co (台電) to supply a 15-megawatt battery energy storage system, Pan said.
As renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy are unstable, Taipower plans to launch its first automotive frequency control services using URE’s storage system, she added.
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