Chinese solar module, cell, and wafer manufacturer, JinkoSolar, has announced that it has already received orders of 10.7 GW for the current year. The company also announced that it is expanding its mono wafer manufacturing capacity by 5 GW in a new facility in Leshan, Sichuan Province, China.

The orders come on the back of large supply agreements in Vietnam, Mexico, Spain and other countries that have allowed JinkoSolar to secure the orders for 2019.

According to JinkoSolar, “Overseas orders with fixed terms and conditions account for the vast majority of the secured orders. Installations in China are expected to pick up during the second half of 2019.”

This record-high order book consists primarily of JinkSolar’s flagship Cheetah module which was launched last year and the latest Swan bifacial modules which have been commercialized in 2019. The company stated that this highlights a trend taking place in global markets with demand shifting towards high-efficiency products.

Recently, JinkoSolar announced in its quarterly financial results that its total module shipments in the fourth quarter of 2018 were 3,618 MW, an increase of 22.5% quarter on quarter (QoQ). Revenue from operations was around $1.1 billion, and net income stood at approximately $17 million.

On securing this record capacity order, Kangping Chen, JinkoSolar’s CEO commented, “We shipped a total of 11.4 GW of solar modules in 2018, an increase of 16% from 2017. Total revenues during the quarter were $1.12 billion, an increase of 15.3% sequentially and an increase of 21.5% year-over-year. Total revenues for the full year 2018 were $3.64 billion, a decrease of 5.4% from 2017, primarily due to lower ASPs. Gross margin was 14% for the full year 2018, compared with 11.3% for 2017. Excluding the impact of countervailing duties, gross margin expanded during the quarter to 13.8% from 12.8% last quarter. While the Chinese market was impacted by the policies released on May 31, 2018, we were able to continue growing through our diversified global distribution network and further consolidate our leading position in terms of market share. With global demand recovering strongly, we remain confident in the future prospects of our business and expect module shipments to grow by approximately 30 percent in 2019.”

In 2018, China shocked the global solar markets by imposing installation caps and a reduced feed-in tariff for solar projects in the country affecting solar demand in the country after which installations declined from 53 GW in 2017 to 44 GW in 2018. The change in policy is a result of a massive subsidy backlog of 120 billion yuan.

As of December 31, 2018, the company’s in-house annual silicon wafer, solar cell, and solar module production capacity was approximately 9,700 MW, 7,000 MW, and 10,800 MW respectively. In November 2018, Mercom reported that a rise in module shipments helped JinkoSolar increase its gross profit by 37 percent in Q3 2018.

LONGi Solar announced a 34% rise in revenues over the last year and plans for capacity expansion.

It looks like the worst could be over for Chinese manufacturers after China shocked the global solar markets by last year by imposing installation caps and a reduced feed-in tariff for solar projects in the country affecting solar demand in the country after which installations declined from 53 GW in 2017 to 44 GW in 2018. The change in policy resulted in oversupply and a steep decline in average selling prices. Tariff imposition by the U.S. and safeguard duty applied by India in 2018 also added to the challenges for manufacturers.

Recently,  the Price Bureau of China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced the level of solar FIT payments for large-scale projects which will become effective from July 1, 2019. For the ease of implementation, the country has been broadly categorized into three regions: Region 1, 2 and 3. These FiTs will be inclusive of taxes.