News | Energy Efficiency

http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by-technology/solar/satcon-revenue-climbs-losses-reduced.html

Renewable energy power conversion technology provider Satcon’s revenue for the first quarter of 2011 has jumped 321 per cent year-on-year to $62m as demand for its utility-scale solar systems continues to climb.

Strong demand for Satcon’s products has seen its gross margin scale ten percentile points to a healthy margin of 24 per cent, though the company has not managed to combat its deficit, making a loss of $1.5m during the quarter.
But with a 79 per cent reduction on its loss burden, which last year stood at $7.1m, the company would move firmly into profit by early 2012 if it continues to make similar improvements.
Satcon expects its second quarter revenue to come in a close second at between $50m and $60m, according to Satcon’s president and CEO Steve Rhoades.
North America continued to be the Nasdaq-listed company’s strongest performing region, representing 76 per cent of total sales, while Asia contributed 22 per cent of sales and Europe represented two per cent.
Satcon’s utility-scale solutions, of 250kW and above, continued to be its strongest performing offering. It shipped over 240MW of this product, representing 87 per cent of total units shipped in the quarter.
It also shipped 276.5MW of its industry-leading PowerGate Plus, Prism, and Solstice solutions.
‘Our performance in the first quarter of 2011 reflected continued demand for our utility-scale solar photovoltaic [PV] systems in both North America and Asia, where Satcon continues to be the market leader,’ said Rhoades.
‘At the same time, our European business was weaker than we expected due to the uncertainty around government policies for renewable energy in several European countries.’
With demand for Satcon’s utility-scale PV inverters continuing to grow in North America and Asia, Rhoades said the company believes these markets will remain strong.
Satcon’s backlog by the end of the quarter was $72.2m, 78.5 per cent of which derives from North America, 14.7 per cent from Asia and 6.8 per cent from Europe.
Its bookings for the first quarter stand at $35.5m, with 77 per cent of that demand coming from North America, 20 per cent from Asia Pacific and three per cent from Europe.