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ReneSola (SOL) to Construct 550 MW Solar Projects in 2017

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Leading provider of energy-efficient products and project developer, ReneSola Ltd. (SOL - Free Report) recently announced an update to its project pipeline worldwide. Notably, this Chinese company, with 335 megawatts (MW) of solar projects currently under construction, plans to build over 550 MW of projects in 2017.

Details of the Project

Undoubtedly, this project update has the maximum provision for solar project construction in China where the company already has solar rooftop projects of over 393 MW. ReneSola plans to build plants with a total capacity of 303 MW in China this year.

The company intends to construct 108 MW of solar projects in the U.S. across the states of California, Minnesota and North Carolina. Of these projects, 70 MW will be community solar projects. In the U.K., the company plans to construct approximately 14 MW of projects, of which 10 MW are under the 1.2 Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) program and are expected to get connected to the grid in Mar 2017.

In Canada, the construction of  9 MW of small-scale utility projects are expected under the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) 3.0 in 2017; while in Turkey ReneSola will construct 13 MW of projects.

Moreover, in Jan 2017, the company won 13 solar utility projects in southern Poland, under a 15-year power purchase agreement. Each of these projects has an installed capacity of 1 MW and is expected to get connected to the grid by Dec 2017.

Coming to the quarterly estimates, management expects to witness fewer external module shipments in the first quarter of 2017, since the company had redirected more module sales to its downstream projects. As a result, project sales declined in the quarter. Nevertheless, an uptick in the same is expected in the second quarter, particularly accompanied by optimism surrounding ReneSola’s project development business. 

As the company continues to gain traction in the domestic Chinese distributed generation market, management continues to focus on its developed markets which are expected to give stable returns and healthy cash flow. 

Stock Performance

Throughout last year, the solar industry has been grappling with challenges like declining solar panel prices, weaker power plant contracting activity and increasing regulatory pressure. The industry-wide slump was led by a supply glut of solar panels.

Further, the unexpected victory of Donald Trump does not bode well for the renewable energy space. The President has not only vowed to revive the coal industry but has even called the phenomenon of climate change a “Chinese Hoax”.

Consequently, shares of ReneSola lost 66.9% in the last one year, wider than the Zacks categorized Solar industry’s decline of 50.6%. The anti-dumping duties and anti-subsidy rates imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the import of Chinese solar panels might have affected the stock’s performance as all of the company’s production facilities are located in China.

What Lies Ahead for Solar Companies?

The growing awareness regarding the disadvantages of fossil fuel is driving demand for renewable sources of power generation, particularly solar. Per a U.S. Energy Information Administration report (EIA), solar power is expected to be the fastest growing renewable energy source in the 2016–2018 period, with total utility-scale capacity increasing 44% from the end of 2016 to 31 gigawatt (GW) at the end of 2018.

Taking this into consideration, solar is expected to account for 1.4% of the total utility-scale electricity generation in 2018, indicating room for growth for companies like ReneSola. Going forward, we expect other players in this space like First Solar, Inc. (FSLR - Free Report) , Canadian Solar, Inc. (CSIQ - Free Report) and JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd to benefit significantly from the boom as well.

Zacks Rank

ReneSola currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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