Solar tracker maker Soltec Power Holdings’s net loss narrowed to €9.6 million (~$10.4 million) in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2023 compared to a net loss of €15.5 million (~$17 million) year-over-year, mainly due to lower cost despite a decline in revenue.

Soltec’s quarterly revenue declined by 21.5% YoY to €76.8 million (~$83.5 million), primarily due to a lower volume of solar tracker sales during the quarter, with the company delivering 300 MW compared to 900 MW YoY.

There was a drop in container shipping demand – the lowest since the peak of the COVID pandemic. The average selling price of solar trackers remained steady.

Soltec has supplied a total of 15.9 GW of trackers to date.

Source: Soltec

The net loss declined due to strong gross margins from the tracker supply business, which maintained double-digit positive margins. The company said this was made possible by favorable market conditions that helped reduce costs.

The company recorded adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) loss of €4.6 million (~$5 million), a decrease of 65% YoY compared to a loss of €13 million (~$14.1 million).

Soltec claims an order backlog of €221 million ($240.2 million) and a pipeline of €10.87 billion ($11.82 billion). The order backlog includes tracker supply and other construction services, while the pipeline represents the estimated value of potential projects in various stages of development.

The Spain-headquartered company closed the quarter with a pipeline of 14.2 GW at different stages of progress in Spain, Italy, Denmark, Romania, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States.

Soltec’s capacity under operation was 230 MW during the quarter, while the capacity under construction was 25 MW.

This pipeline represents 45% of the projects in Europe and the remainder in the Americas.

Manufacturing and supply of solar trackers account for 46% of revenues, while construction services contributed to the rest.

The company expects demand for solar trackers to materialize in the second half of 2023 after the release of the IRA guidelines in the U.S. and the approved capacity in Spain reaches ready-to-build status.

The company had recorded a net profit of €13.1 million ($14 million) in the financial year 2022, a YoY increase of 1191% compared to the net loss of €1.2 million (~$1.3 million) in FY21.

In July 2021, the company’s global solar photovoltaic project development division and Banco de Nordeste do Brasil signed an agreement to finance a 375 MW solar PV project in Brazil amounting to €86 million ($91.4 million).