The battery storage arm of Canadian Solar expects to make between 7GWh and 9GWh of shipments this year, with the final figure dependent on trade policy developments.
The vertically integrated solar PV manufacturer, project developer and energy storage system integrator released its Q1 2025 financial results yesterday (15 May) for the period ending 31 March 2025.
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As reported by our colleagues at PV Tech yesterday, the company’s quarterly PV module shipments increased 9.4% year over year, but net losses of US$34 million and a decrease in gross profits were also recorded.
Canadian Solar attributed the deterioration in financial performance to challenges presented by low selling prices and “geopolitical complexities.” The latter has seen the NASDAQ-listed company’s manufacturing subsidiary, CSI Solar, reveal plans to move manufacturing capacity into new regions in light of US import tariffs. CSI Solar is separately listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and reported its own results a couple of weeks ago.
CEO Dr Shawn Qu said that the company intended to turn its fortunes around through “strategically balancing near-term challenges with long-term opportunities.”
Qu emphasised that while the company would seek to manage expenses and expenditures, it would also aim to accelerate growth in its “margin-accretive energy storage business,” manage solar module volumes “with a focus on profitability” and continuing pivoting its developer subsidiary Recurrent Energy towards a partial independent power producer (IPP) business model.
Battery storage shipments
CSI Solar, which integrates and manufactures battery storage equipment and systems for utility-scale and commercial & industrial (C&I) applications under its e-STORAGE brand, had a turnkey project pipeline of more than 91GWh as of the end of the reported period. It also has 5GWh of projects already in operation under long-term service contracts.
The pipeline, however, includes projects in negotiation as well as those under contract and in construction. Canadian Solar said the value of the contracted backlog of signed deals with binding commitments from customers is more than US$3.2 billion.
E-STORAGE recently launched an enhanced version of its SolBank 3.0 battery energy storage system (BESS) solution, and the company plans to ramp up annual production capacity from 20GWh as of the end of March to 30GWh by the end of this year. Meanwhile, its yearly battery cell production capacity will remain at 3GWh.
It also signed some significant deals during the quarter, including supply of BESS to a 228 MW/912 MWh project in Chile for power generation company Colbún.
Canadian Solar expects CSI Solar to ship between 2.4GWh and 2.6GWh of battery storage in Q2 2025, and between 7GWh and 9GWh throughout the whole year, including around 1GWh to the company’s own projects.
“We expect second quarter performance to be bolstered by strong energy storage shipments. We continue to operate in an environment of global pricing volatility and evolving policy uncertainty that limits margin visibility,” Qu said.
The solar company also makes EP Cube, a residential battery storage product, designed by another subsidiary called EternalPlanet.
Project business heavily weighted toward North America
Developer-IPP Recurrent Energy’s business model has three key drivers: electricity sales, asset sales, and operations & maintenance (O&M) services. The company said it uses sales of solar PV and battery storage development assets to drive investment in operating assets from which it can sell electricity in stable currency markets.
Canadian Solar said Recurrent Energy’s battery storage development pipeline totalled 75.7GWh at the end of Q1, including 1.9GWh of projects under construction, 7.9GWh of contracted backlog and about 66GWh in advanced or early-stage development.
As seen in the table below, the development number is weighted heavily toward early-stage projects, while most of its projects and opportunities are in the North American market.
Recurrent Energy’s battery storage development pipeline as of 31 March 2025 in megawatt-hours (MWh)
| Region | Under construction | Backlog | Advanced development | Early-stage development | Total |
| North America | 1,400 | 800 | 0 | 20,496 | 22,696 |
| EMEA | 43 | 3,552 | 3,337 | 30,218 | 37,150 |
| Latin America | – | 1,365 | 400 | – | 1,765 |
| APAC (excluding China, Japan) | 440 | 240 | 740 | 1,580 | 3,000 |
| China | – | 1,200 | – | 5,300 | 6,500 |
| Japan | 8 | 719 | 1,791 | 2,040 | 4,558 |
| Total | 1,891 | 7,876 | 6,268 | 59,634 | 75,669 |
