Shareholder letter
Page 1
August 30 , 2021 Fellow Shareholders , ReneSola Power Our company delivered solid second quarter results , with excellent bottom line profit and positive cash flow from operations . Our strategy to focus on project sales at the NTP stage is paying off : gross margin of 61.0 % and net income of $ 7 million were well ahead of analyst forecasts . This is the most profitable quarter since we became a pure - play project developer in the third quarter of 2017. Adjusted EBITDA of $ 10 million represented an increase of 66 % from the first quarter 2021 and 33 % from the second quarter of 2020. Furthermore , our business model is also showing its strength . Second quarter marked our fifth consecutive quarter of profitability , with the bottom line well ahead of expectations despite sequentially lower revenue due to the timing of a project sale . Our growth was primarily driven by the strength in both Europe and the U.S. with strong demand for high - quality projects . ( We expect to complete the sale of a 12MW project in Spain within the next month , and as such , we will recognize revenue from the sale in the third quarter of 2021. ) This excellent bottom - line performance was driven by our team's superb execution . First , we successfully closed the sale of a 38 MW portfolio of solar projects in Poland to Obton , a leading international solar investment company based in Denmark . The projects were sold at the NTP stage , and ReneSola Power will be responsible for EPC management , project financing , and the final delivery of the projects to Obton at the COD . Second , we completed the sale of a total of 5 MW projects in Maine , U.S. , and recognized revenue in the quarter . Third , we grew our project pipeline from 1 GW in the beginning of 2021 to over 1.3 GW by the end of Q1 2021 , and further expanded our pipeline to ~ 1.6 GW by the end of the second quarter of 2021. Fourth , we were awarded 29 solar utility projects with the capacity of 1 MW each and 1 small utility scale project with the capacity of 4 MW in Poland's electricity auction . These 30 projects are under Poland's Contract for Difference ( CFD ) regime and eligible for a 15 - year guaranteed tariff . The projects are expected to be connected to the grid within the next two years . In addition to strong bottom - line performance , we strengthened our financial position through debt reduction in the second quarter , retiring short - term debt of $ 11.8 million . As a result , we further improved our capital structure with a debt - to - assets ratio of 16 % . Our balance sheet remains healthy with a large cash position of $ 286 million . We intend to use this cash to expand our solar project pipeline , further penetrate the solar - plus - storage market , for working capital , and for potential strategic M & A opportunities . Further executing our growth plan , we recently signed a strategic partnership agreement with Emeren , a London , United Kingdom - based project developer specializing in the development of renewable energy power plants in Europe and other international markets . We will co - develop ground - mounted solar projects in Italy , with a pipeline of several transactions scheduled for 2021. As part of the agreement , ReneSola Power and Emeren intend to develop projects in a broad range of sizes across Italy , with a target of reaching 110 MW shovel - ready projects by 2022 . Our expanding pipeline of business activity indicates robust demand for project development , and we remain optimistic about our multi - year growth prospects . In the rest of this letter , we will describe in more detail our strong position today , and prospects for robust growth tomorrow . Large and Growing Market Opportunity The global solar power project development business is large and continues to grow . Industry market research estimates that by 2040 , the share of renewables in the energy market will increase to around 30 % and globally will become the single largest source of power generation . Europe continues to lead the way in terms of penetration of renewables . Renewable energy is expected to account for more than 50 % of the European energy market by 2040. Europe , the U.S. , and China are expected to be the three key markets driving the growth of renewables for many years in the future .