"From 1997 to the present, Trina Solar has gone through four rounds of industry cycles, and this time the industry cycle, Trina will continue to cross the industry cycle steadily, and at the same time seize the changing trend opportunities (such as strengthening the development of energy storage, deepening the solution business, etc.) to realize Trina's own iterative evolution."

Recently, Trina Solar (688599) held a third-quarter results briefing, and the company's investor relations activities record sheet showed that GF Fund, E Fund and other institutions participated, and Gao Jifan, chairman and general manager of Trina Solar, received investors and made the above statements in the exchange.

According to the shipment situation by segment, in the third quarter of 2024, Trina Solar achieved module shipments of nearly 16.5GW, of which the US shipment was close to 800MW, accounting for a lower proportion, mainly due to the consideration of avoiding the retrospective risk of double anti-dumping tax in the United States, and actively adjusting its sales strategy to reduce risks. Distributed system sales were close to 1GW, a month-on-month decline, mainly due to the uncertainty of the current electricity marketization process, so the company adopted a prudent "deceleration into the corner" strategy to deal with potential risks.

As of the end of September, the company's distributed power station operation and maintenance scale was 15.2GW, and the business scale has increased steadily, providing the company with stable profits and cash flow. The shipment of brackets in the third quarter was about 2GW, of which tracking brackets accounted for more than 70%, and the profitability was significantly improved.

It is worth mentioning that the energy storage shipments in the third quarter were close to 850MWh, of which more than 300MWh were shipped in Europe, and the gross profit margin of the sector increased significantly. Trina Solar said that in addition to the continuous improvement of its own product strength and the continuous decline in costs, the increase in the proportion of overseas markets is also a very important factor, and the energy storage sector will continue to strengthen the development of overseas high-margin markets in the future, enhance global competitiveness, and create Trina Solar's unique growth curve. Trina Solar revealed that the company has a strong development momentum in overseas markets and has successfully won a large number of energy storage orders. The proportion of overseas sales is expected to increase significantly next year, and the overall gross profit margin will increase.

The reporter noted that the main issues that investors are concerned about are the outlook for distributed power market-oriented policies, the shipment situation in the U.S. market and the battery technology route.

Trina Solar said that market-based electricity trading is the only way to build a new power system, which is conducive to promoting the consumption of new energy and opening up the ceiling of new energy installed space, which is conducive to the long-term sustainable development of distributed photovoltaics.

"With the deepening of the electricity market, the residential distributed industry will become more standardized and centralized, and higher requirements will be put forward for enterprises, not only with simple project development capabilities, but also with digital operation and management capabilities." Trina Solar said that the company has forward-looking layout and accumulated mature power trading capabilities and strong asset operation capabilities, and is confident that it will maintain its leading position in the industry in the future. In addition, the company is actively piloting a new model to promote the deep integration of photovoltaic and energy storage, and make full use of the company's deep business understanding and technical advantages in the field of photovoltaic and energy storage to develop overall system solutions for photovoltaic and energy storage.

On the one hand, according to the preliminary anti-subsidy ruling announced in early October, Thailand's tax rate is only 0.14%, the lowest among all companies, and the second lowest tax rate is 0.81%, and then 2.85%, the company's advantage is very obvious. On the other hand, in 2023, TRW has forward-looking production capacity in Indonesia (not a country under the "anti-dumping" survey) and the United States, both of which are expected to start production in the fourth quarter of 2024. In addition, Trina Solar said that based on years of unremitting R&D investment, the company now has a number of core patented technologies of TOPCon, which will help strengthen Trina Solar's competitive advantage in the U.S. market.

Based on the above points, Trina Solar believes that the company's long-term competitive advantage in the U.S. market is solid, and the short-term sales decline is an active choice in the face of industry risks. Since there is a very obvious possibility of rapid changes in the external environment in both domestic and foreign markets, the company will maintain strategic flexibility, continue to track and pay attention to the development trend of the industry, and make the best changes. "This is a difficult thing, but the company has the most abundant experience in the industry through the cycle, and in the face of this round of cycle fluctuations and external interference, we are confident to properly respond to risks, seize opportunities in changes, and achieve our own iterative improvement."

In response to the hot spot of battery technology selection, Trina Solar said that the company continues to invest in high-intensity R&D, and has fully covered technologies such as Topcon, HJT, IBC, perovskite, tandem cells, etc., and the advantages of TOPCon are still very obvious, and it will be the mainstream technology in the next few years. Recently, the company has achieved a breakthrough in TOPCon technology, with the highest efficiency of the self-developed N-type i-TOPCon cell reaching 25.9%, and will further increase by 20-30W in the future, so that the front power of the TOPCon module will continue to reach a big level, and the disadvantage of the front power of the BC module will be reduced by 10W or even the same in the future, while the advantage of the back power is 90W, and the comprehensive power of the double-sided application scenario of TOPCon is higher.

Trina Solar also mentioned that the company's advantageous markets (the United States) and advantageous sectors (residential distribution) are facing extremely strong external uncertainties, and the company's choice is to slow down into the corner and not take too many risks, so there was a phased deceleration in the company's advantageous markets in the third quarter. As for how these risk factors will evolve in the future, and whether the deceleration strategy is correct, it will take time to observe.

The company emphasizes that the strategy is by no means static, but should match the pace of industry changes, and now the industry is in a stage where the external environment may change rapidly, the company will always pay close attention to the development trend of the industry, and make the optimal strategic adjustment in combination with marginal changes.