This article only represents the author's own views.
China has rapidly emerged as a solar star by building new sun-powered farms at a breakneck pace to become one of the world’s top producers of the clean energy source. But that status is also coming with a darker side, as many of the country’s vast field of solar farms are increasingly underutilized due to the rapid buildup. One company feeling the pinch of that solar energy glut is Xinyi Energy Holdings Ltd. (3868.HK), a member of the Xinyi family of companies specializing in solar farms, which earlier this month warned its profit fell between 25% and 35% in the first half of 2024 from HK$570 million ($74 million) in the year-ago period.
Like many of its peers, Xinyi Energy’s asset base and revenue streams expanded as more of its new solar farms came online in the first half of this year. But limitations of the nation’s electric grid reduced the profitability from the company’s electricity sales. Higher depreciation expenses after the acquisition of new farms last year and in the first half of this year and the depreciation of the Chinese yuan against the Hong Kong dollar also undermined the company’s profitability, it said. Xinyi Energy’s shares fell 4% to HK$0.96 on the first trading day after the profit warning, dipping below the symbolically important HK$1 level for only the second time this year. The shares have continued to fall since then and closed on Monday at HK$0.90.