U.S.-based energy storage technology and services provider Fluence‘s net loss for the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2023 narrowed to $37 million compared to $111.5 million year-over-year (YoY), primarily driven by the highest-ever quarterly order intake of $856 million.

The order intake comprised 624 MW of energy storage solutions, 139 MW of services delivered, and 783 MW of digital solutions.

President and CEO of Fluence Julian Nebred said, “We are seeing early signs of incremental activity from our customers in the United States as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act that we believe will start to materialize in the second half of the year.”

The company’s revenue increased 78% YoY to $310.5 million. It said that over 95% of revenue in Q1 was recognized from legacy contracts.

Fluence’s Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation, and Amortization (EBITDA) loss also narrowed to $25.5 million compared to an EBITDA loss of $42.8 million from last year.

The adjusted gross profit margin improved to approximately 4.7%, including the previously disclosed settlement of liquidated damages recovered from a supplier during Q1, compared to negative 4.8% for the same period last year.

During the October-December quarter, Fluence was awarded a framework contract with a non-related global independent power producer and utility company. The agreement is to optimize any battery energy storage system brought online in ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) in the next three years.

As of December 31, 2022, the company has long-term services assets under management of 2 GW with over 90% total deployment attachment rate and 11% attachment rate on the orders in Q1 2023.

The contract backlog of Fluence by the end of December 2022 stood at $2.7 billion, with approximately 72% of contracts signed with non-related parties.

Fluence posted a net loss of $61 million for the third quarter of 2022 owing to pandemic-related issues that disrupted shipments which the company said it is currently overcoming.

Last year, Fluence signed a pact with India-based renewable energy developer ReNew Power to form a joint venture to meet the energy storage solutions demands of customers across India.