U.S.-based solar tracker systems provider FTC Solar’s net loss narrowed to $11.8 million for the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year (FY) 2023 from $27.8 million year-over-year (YoY) despite a decline in revenue because the cost of revenue associated with engineering services saw a sharper cut.

The cost reduction was accompanied by a 17.5% year-over-year (YoY) drop in total revenue at $40.9 million, mainly driven by lower logistics volume, partially offset by higher product average selling price.

While the company’s Q1 revenue from products rose by 5% to $32.6 million, it was offset by a 44.7% decline in revenues from engineering services at $8.3 million.

The company said that the Q1 loss also dented the available Inflation Reduction Act incentives.

During Q1, FTC Solar eliminated over 20% of its product steel content while it launched a high-margin distributed generation business.

The company also introduced a new solution for the U.S. thin-film modules and one module in portrait (1P) solar tracker solution.

During the quarter, FTC further strengthened its portfolio of 1P, 2P, thin-film, and software-based solutions for solar.

“The new Pioneer 1P tracker shipping remained ahead of schedule, with first orders in the U.S. and Australia,” the company said.

FTC’s President and CEO Sean Hunkler commented, “In addition to improving our cost and margin profile by eliminating more than a fifth of the steel from our products and launching a higher-margin business, we have taken several other steps to improve our overall competitive positioning. We expanded our product offering and available market opportunity by adding a thin-film solution to our 2P Voyager tracker and introducing a new and differentiated 1P tracker called Pioneer, for which we just won our first project awards in the U.S. and Australia.”

FTC Solar posted a net loss of $20.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, a YoY improvement of 14.15% compared to a loss of $23.88 million during the corresponding period in 2021.

The company’s net loss widened to $25.6 million in the third quarter of the previous FY compared to $22.9 YoY due to low demand induced by regulatory hurdles.