- JinkoSolar’s 2023 module shipments soared due to increasing demand for solar energy
- The North America and APAC regions more than doubled to emerge as its largest module markets last year
- In 2024, it plans to slow down on capacity expansion investments but will continue to build the Shanxi and Vietnam projects
- The manufacturer aims to ship up to 110 GW modules in 2024, starting with a maximum of 20 GW in Q1
Riding on the increasing global demand for solar power, leading Chinese solar PV manufacturer JinkoSolar Holding exited 2023 with total module shipments of around 80 GW. It now guides for its global shipments in 2024 to range within 100 GW to 110 GW.
Its total shipments of 78.5 GW improved by 76.4% annually, along with 5.04 GW of cell and wafer shipments. During Q4/2023, it shipped 26.3 GW modules and 1.53 GW cell and wafers. It is an improvement over the 21.4 GW modules shipped in the previous quarter (see Solid Financial Results For JinkoSolar In Q3/2023).
APAC and North America were its largest markets for module shipments in 2023, with both more than doubling on an annual basis.
InfoLink Consulting places JinkoSolar on top of its list for top 10 solar module suppliers in 2023, saying these top 10 companies accounted for 78% of the global supply. JinkoSolar expects the share of top 10 companies in 2024 to further increase to over 90% (see 60% Global Module Supply In 2023 Came From Top 4 Suppliers).
Financial results
The company’s Q4 revenues totaled $4.62 billion, representing a 2.1% sequential and a 9.4% annual improvement. Yet, the decrease in module average selling price (ASP) pulled down its gross profit of $576.2 million by 33.3% and 2.8%, respectively.
Net income during the reporting quarter declined as well, to $4.1 million from $103 million in Q4/2022 (see JinkoSolar Shipped 44 GW+ Solar PV Modules In 2022).
The settlement of a dispute with one of its customers was among the reasons for the company’s operating expenses growing by 18.9% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) in Q4 to $526.5 million. Total operating expenses accounted for 11.4% of total revenues.
On an annual basis, its total revenues for 2023 grew 42.8% to $16.72 billion, while the gross profit of $2.68 billion was an improvement of 55.1%. The decrease in the material cost of solar modules increased its gross margin to 16% vis-à-vis 14.8% in 2022.
Manufacturing plans
By the end of 2024, the management targets to reach an annual production capacity of 120 GW for mono wafers, 110 GW for solar cells and 130 GW for modules. N-type will account for more than 90% of the total capacity as it aims for a mass-production n-type cell efficiency of 26.5%.
JinkoSolar targets to increase its annual manufacturing capacity by the end of 2024, but will reduce its investments in capacity expansion in 2024. (Photo Credit: JinkoSolar Holding)
The company expects its overseas integrated manufacturing capacity to increase to 14 GW by 2024-end, including 2 GW module capacity in the US.
JinkoSolar will reduce its investments in capacity expansion in 2024 citing supply chain and market conditions. Nonetheless, it will continue to expand the company’s advanced n-type capacity including 28 GW (comprising 14 GW each in phase 1 and 2) of integrated capacity at its Shanxi plant in China that will have 56 GW of combined capacity on completion. It will also complete 4 GW of n-type cell and module capacity in Vietnam.
JinkoSolar’s Chairman and CEO Xiande Li shares, “We expect the decline in module prices to significantly improve the economics of solar energy industry in the short-to-mid-term, and we anticipate demand in the global PV market to continue to increase in 2024. Meanwhile, rapid iterations of new technologies and the elimination of obsolete production capacity will also accelerate the consolidation of the industry.”
For Q1/2024, the management guides for total module shipments to range within 18 GW to 20 GW.
