United Renewable Energy Co (URE, 聯合再生能源), the nation’s biggest supplier of solar cells and modules, yesterday gave a positive outlook for the second half of this year after losses narrowed last quarter, thanks to price increases and a better product portfolio.
URE’s loss during the April-to-June period improved to NT$225 million, compared with a net loss of NT$530 million in the first quarter and NT$641 million in the second quarter of last year, the company said.
The company said in a statement that it posted monthly profits last quarter as strong demand boosted average selling prices and raw material costs stabilized.
“The company is seeing strong demand from the Taiwanese market. It has received solar module orders for shipments next year and the year after,” URE said in the statement. “As the average selling price is stabilizing, URE expects profits to improve in the second half of this year.”
The company expects a new wave of solar system installation demand in the third and fourth quarters of this year, as only a small share, or 420 megawatts of solar systems, out of a total 2.5 gigawatts were installed in the first half of this year.
Benefiting from the surge in domestic demand, URE expects shipments to grow significantly, the statement said.
The company’s board of directors yesterday approved a NT$433 million (US$15.56 million) capacity expansion plan to build a new production line for the manufacturing of advanced solar cells, it said in a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Installed solar cell capacity would be as high as 500 megawatts a year, it said.
The new investment aims to cope with rising demand for high-efficiency solar cells, it added.
URE also saw improvement in costs after silicon wafer suppliers announced price cuts, boding well for the company’s profitability for the rest of the year.
It generated gross profit of NT$270 million during last quarter, reversing a gross loss of NT$47 million in the first quarter of this year and a gross loss of US$157 million in the second quarter of last year.
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