Neo Solar Power (NSP), Taiwan’s top-tier PV manufacturer, has gradually recovered from the operating downturn caused by the plant relocation and has continued to expand its business range. The company has announced to sign off the agreements to invest in a solar independent power producer (IPP) company. NSP will soon launch fundraising activities to prepare for listing.
NSP announced on November 4th that PV power plant has good prospects and stable earnings. In order to enhance its competitive advantages in the PV power plant operation and to leverage fund from global capital markets, the company has signed contracts with overseas firms to invest US$ 44 million in Clean Focus Yield Limited (CFY). NSP will also invest another US$ 4 million in CFY’s management company – Clean Focus GP Limited (CFGP).
NSP pointed out that once they have got the fund they need, they will continue to raise additional US$ 100 million, enough to purchase 300MW-400MW of PV plants. Later, CFY will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
“CFY belongs to NSP’s financial investment and will own PV plants in IPP form,” NSP said in a phone interview with EnergyTrend. CFY will have an investment committee to review projects that are planned to acquire and target on PV plants with healthy development. NSP indicated that they have the priority to sell PV plants to CFY and will first consider PV plants in the US.
Regarding why choosing to go public in Hong Kong, NSP said that Hong Kong has more abundant global fund, which matches the purpose and operating principles of establishing CFY. They may also have it listed in Taiwan if Taiwan allows these types of companies to go public in the future. However, NSP has previously worked with Cathay Life Insurance to set up a local power company in Taiwan; therefore they will focus on the operating stability of the two companies in the short run and will not consider other expansions.
NSP’s revenue increased in October as demand picks up
On November 7th, NSP announced its revenue for October this year. The company’s consolidated revenue reached NT$ 1.123 billion, up 8.17% MoM. The cumulative revenue of the first 10 months of this year reached NT$ 14.512 billion, down 17.61% YoY.
As NSP moved its production lines from Taiwan to the overseas, its capacity utilization rate has dropped in 1H16, leading to weak revenue performance. This September, while most Taiwanese makers suffered from losses, NSP’S revenue rebounded due to re-start of the capacity and increase in shipment. After 3Q16, the improved market condition and higher prices allowed NSP to increase their utilization rate to more than 60%, resulting in higher revenue.
“This year, more than half of the mono-Si cell shipments were PERC cells to Europe and Japan,” NSP told EnergyTrend. As a result, we can see that PERC is slowly in a dominant position within the high-efficiency market.
(Reported by Rhea Tsao, translated by Christine Chen)、