Operating Profit Skyrocketed
As Hanwha Q Cells got the solar power business back on tract, it ran a surplus worth nearly 90 billion won (US$77.22 million) in a year after being listed on NASDAQ in the U.S. This is largely due to the effective strategy to combine the group’s solar business capability with the merger of Hanwha Q Cells and Hanwha SolarOne.
On March 28 (local time), Hanwha Q Cells, which is listed on NASDAQ, said in the earnings release that it posted US$1.8 billion (2.09 trillion won) in sales and US$76.6 million (89.2 billion won) in operating profits last year.
The operating profit is more than 10 times higher than 8.6 billion won (US$7.38 million) of the figure that the solar business division of the holding company Hanwha Chemical recorded in 2014. Hanwha Q Cells and Hanwha SolarOne were merged in Feb. last year.
Hanwha Q Cells has been growing up in earnest from last year. Starting with the deal to supply 1.5 GW of solar modules to NextEra Energy Resources, the second largest energy firm in the U.S., the company is expanding its solar power business in Europe, India and Turkey. Last year, Hanwha Q Cells supplied 3.4 GW of solar modules, which is the fourth largest in the world. As the company completed the construction of its own solar power plants one by one, it is seeking to turn from a simple solar power module producer into eco-friendly total energy firm.
Hanwha Q Cells aims to increase its production capacity for solar modules and cells from 4.3 GW to 5.2 GW by the middle of the year, expanding the market power. The company also increased the annual module shipments to 4.7 GW next year.