Solar and storage manufacturer financial health rankings | Q4 2024

solar manufacturer financial health

Quality assurance firm Sinovoltaics released the fourth edition of financial ranking reports for 2024. The ranking reports evaluate the financial stability of publicly listed manufacturers of PV modules, energy storage, and inverters across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and it features 65 solar module manufacturers, 55 energy storage manufacturers, and 33 inverter manufacturers.

Procurement managers and financiers can use these rankings to evaluate and compare the financial stability of publicly traded manufacturers and evaluate the strength of enforceable warranties. Financial stability is particularly crucial in the emerging energy storage market, where there is less long-term data on manufacturers.

Trends for each company, based on data from December 2021 to September 2024, are shown in easily scanned tables. These trends provide crucial insights on how each manufacturer’s financial strength has evolved over the past three years.

Sinovoltaics rankings explained

These Sinovoltaics quarterly reports evaluate the financial stability of publicly listed manufacturers of PV modules, energy storage, and inverters across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, using the Altman Z-Score, a widely recognized financial assessment tool.

Unlike the Bloomberg PV Module Tier 1 List, which considers criteria like bankability and production capacity, this tool measures a company’s financial health through profitability, leverage, liquidity, solvency, and activity ratios.

Sinovoltaics recommends that in addition to using these reports, solar and energy storage developers also conduct thorough factory audits and quality inspections to mitigate investment risks and technical failures.

Sinovoltaics Altman Z scores table

Below is just a snapshot. The full reports for solar modules, energy storage, and inverters are available as free downloads on the Sinovoltaics website. Click to expand each image.

Sinovoltaics module top 20 edition 4
Sinovoltaics financial health module rankings

FYI: There are more listed in the full report. The bottom five, firmly in the “Distress Zone” are Maxeon Solar (-1.65), SunPower (-1.71), Talesun (-1.92), Meyer Burger (-3.45), and SPI Energy (-4.09).

Note: This is the first Sinovoltaics report to list APsystems (Yuneng Technology), which debuted at #2.

Sinovoltaics financial health inverter rankings
Sinovoltaics financial health inverter rankings

FYI: Willings and Solarbridge are the only two inverter manufacturers in the Distress Zone this quarter.

Sinovoltaics financial health storage rankings
Sinovoltaics financial health storage rankings

FYI: The bottom three, deeper into the “Distress Zone” that are not listed in these tables (but you can see in the full report), are Dragonfly Energy, Microvast and Comeo Power (Nikola).

How to interpret the grey zone

The authors notes that while “ideally a manufacturer is in the ‘Safe Zone’ , some companies have been consistently in the ‘Grey Zone’ for years.” So pay attention to year-over-year trendlines over the full report.

Sinovoltaics recommends that in addition to using these reports, solar and energy storage developers also conduct thorough factory audits and quality inspections to mitigate investment risks and technical failures.

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