Shares in SatCon Technology are one of the day’s big winners after increasing 40% on heavy trading activity. Last month the Company announced that it has been selected by Unity Electric, LLC to supply 16 Megawatts of their PowerGate Plus solutions to power a utility-scale solar farm in Tinton Falls, New Jersey.
For this project, Unity Electric, LLC will deploy thirty two PowerGate Plus 500kW solutions; the world’s most widely deployed large-scale solar PV inverters. Upon completion, this site will be one of the largest solar installations in the North East. Satcon’s Utility Ready inverter solutions are the industry’s most advanced and proven large scale power conversion technologies and deliver intelligent power plant management, enabling improvements in total power plant reliability and yield through more powerful system monitoring, diagnostic, and remote control functionality.
With over two Gigawatts of utility-ready inverters shipped, Satcon solutions help power the world’s most advanced solar farms. Satcon inverters enable instant voltage stabilization, frequency control, dynamic grid support, and secures the continuous operation of the PV plant in the event of dynamic ground faults, achieving the performance guidelines set forth by the German Association of Energy and Water Industries. Construction for the Tinton Falls project is currently underway.
In the Company’s latest filing they reported that revenue for the fourth quarter of 2011 was $36.0 million, compared with revenue of $45.0 million in the third quarter of 2011. During the quarter, the company shipped 147 MWs of its industry-leading PowerGate Plus, Prism Platform, and Equinox solutions. For the year ended 2011, sales reached $188.6 million, a 9% increase over 2010 sales, and total megawatts shipped equaled 800, a 16% increased over total megawatts shipped in 2010. North America continued to be the company’s strongest performing region in Q4, representing 94% of total revenue and megawatts shipped.
Gross margin for the quarter was -64%, compared with 12% in the third quarter of 2011. The incremental reduction in gross margin was a direct result of $27 million in inventory-related charges associated with the company’s strategic plan to reduce costs by focusing product development, marketing, and sales on solutions for its fastest growing markets in North America and Asia. Excluding these charges, gross margin for the quarter was 11%.
