- Enphase Energy’s Q3/2021 revenues increased over last 3 months by 97% on annual basis
- It shipped 913 MW DC microinverter capacity during the quarter, split as 76:24 for the US and international markets
- Management sees global logistical supply challenges as continuing in the near future, but seems confident of sailing through in Q4/2021
- It has launched the company’s smartest microinverter IQ8 targeting North American market
By the end of 2021, solar PV microinverter manufacturer Enphase Energy, Inc. is confident of achieving its target of producing 5 million microinverters per quarter through its global production facilities, as the US headquartered company has now diversified significantly out of China, 2/3rd it specifies.
Barring the Chinese location, in India its quarterly production capacity is 1.5 million, and in Mexico it will be around 2.2 million once the planned additional fully automated line comes online in Q4/2021.
Its confidence also comes from having secured alternate suppliers in the midst of chip supply challenges that are being faced by companies globally, and not just in the PV industry. President and CEO Badri Kothandaraman shared that the company is quite well supplied in Q4/2021 compared to previous quarters, however he added that the company remains ‘vigilant and cautious’ as demand continues to grow.
Kothandaraman pointed out that while some of the component costs have gone up by over 100% in the current environment, logistical challenges are not getting any better as shipping or flying components costs a lot of money. He expects the current situation continuing over the next 2 or 3 quarters.
Philip Shen of Roth Capital Partners opined, “ENPH appears to have mostly neutralized its chip constraint situation. Of course, more macro events could come in from left field, but for now chip visibility into 2022 looks healthy. The main bottleneck that remains is the port congestion for storage, and management is deftly navigating that as well.”
Q3/2021
During Q3/2021, Enphase increased its GAAP revenues to $351.5 million having grown 11% sequentially and 97% on annual basis. Gross margin was 39.9%, vis-à-vis 40.4% in Q2/2021 and 53.2% in Q3/2020. Net income dropped around 45% sequentially as well as annually to $21.8 million.
Enphase shipped 2.6 million microinverters or 913 MW DC in Q3/2021 along with 65 MWh of storage systems. The US market took 76% of its shipments during the reporting quarter with 24% international mix.
Guidance
For Q4/2021, the management has guided for revenues within the range of $390 million to $410 million, including shipments of 90 MWh to 100 MWh of Enphase Storage systems. GAAP gross margin is likely to be within the range of 37% to 40% and operating expenses between $119 million to $122 million.
IQ8 launch
The company has stepped into Q4/2021 with the launch of what it calls the ‘industry’s 1st microgrid-forming microinverter’ that can act as a microgrid during power outage, providing back up power even without a battery. The new product IQ8 is the company’s smartest microinverter yet, it added. Enphase is taking pre-orders for the product from customers in North America and expects to start shipping the same from December 2021.
Enphase explained the new product comes in 4 configurations, Solar Only, Sunlight Backup sans battery, Home Essentials Backup with a small battery, and Full Energy Independence with a large battery.
