Surge in Stock Buybacks Among Solar and Energy Storage Companies Amid Market Challenges

Surge in Share Buybacks by Energy Storage Companies! In just two months, 37 firms have taken action, with Tongwei, Canadian Solar, and Trina Solar investing significantly to stabilize their stock prices.

In response to the impact of the U.S. “reciprocal tariff” policy and the pressures of performance divergence within the industry, publicly listed companies in the energy storage sector are demonstrating their confidence in growth through substantial stock buybacks. According to Wind Data, since March 2025, 37 energy storage companies have announced 61 stock buyback initiatives, including three companies proposing buybacks and 19 disclosing their buyback progress. As of the latest announcements, Tongwei Co., Ltd. (600438.SH) has repurchased shares worth 2.008 billion yuan, Trina Solar (688599.SH) has repurchased 238 million yuan, and Canadian Solar (688472.SH) has repurchased 154 million yuan, with plans for further buybacks ranging from 500 million to 1 billion yuan.

Since March, energy storage companies have been actively repurchasing shares. On April 14, several publicly listed energy storage companies, including State Grid Nari Technology (600406.SH), Zhuhai Guanyu (688772.SH), and Hezhong Electric (603063.SH), announced new buyback plans. Specifically, State Grid Nari plans to buy back shares at a price not exceeding 34.13 yuan per share, with a total buyback budget of 500 million to 1 billion yuan. Zhuhai Guanyu intends to repurchase between 100 million and 200 million yuan of its stock.

In 2024, the performance and stock prices of publicly listed energy storage companies faced significant pressure, making buybacks an essential strategy for stabilizing stock prices. According to incomplete statistics from Time Weekly, 86 publicly listed companies in the energy storage sector have disclosed their 2024 performance reports, with 58 companies formally announcing their annual reports. Overall, as many as 46 companies reported losses, accounting for 53.49% of the total, with a cumulative lower limit of net profit losses reaching 48.407 billion yuan. Among them, 12 companies reported losses exceeding 1 billion yuan. Companies such as Canadian Solar and Shanggan Electric (300827) have explicitly stated their intent to repurchase shares to incentivize core talent and actively respond to technological competition. Shanggan Electric announced a buyback plan with an amount ranging from 36 million to 72 million yuan.

Additionally, Chint Electric (601877.SH) proposed a buyback plan funded by its own or raised capital, with a total amount between 270 million and 540 million yuan; Chairman Zhang Huixue of Solar Energy (000591.SZ) proposed a buyback of not less than 100 million yuan and not exceeding 200 million yuan; and Sungrow Power Supply (300274.SZ) initiated a buyback plan ranging from 300 million to 600 million yuan, with a price cap of 100 yuan per share. As of April 10, 2025, Lixiao Technology (002617.SZ) has completed its buyback plan with a total expenditure of 250 million yuan.

Will the release of overseas production capacity offset the impact of tariffs? In 2024, the energy storage sector is experiencing growing domestic competition. The prices of upstream materials like polysilicon continue to remain low, putting profitability pressure on some companies. At the same time, the prices of energy storage cells have also halved, leading to an intensifying price war with transaction prices frequently falling below cost. On a corporate level, TCL Zhonghuan (002129.SZ) and Longi Green Energy (601012.SH) are facing significant losses, with both companies reporting lower limits of net profit losses exceeding 8 billion yuan, with TCL Zhonghuan expected to lose between 8.2 billion and 8.9 billion yuan in 2024, while Longi Green Energy anticipates losses between 8.2 billion and 8.8 billion yuan.

In this context, the overseas market is becoming critical for breakthroughs. In the U.S. market, the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie jointly released the “2024 U.S. Solar Market Review” report, indicating that the U.S. photovoltaic installed capacity will reach 50 GW in 2024, a year-on-year growth of 21%, setting a new historical high. Additionally, according to the “Energy Storage Industry Research White Paper 2025” released by the Zhongguancun Energy Storage Industry Technology Alliance on April 10, the new installed capacity of energy storage in the U.S. is expected to reach 31.2 GWh in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 20%, surpassing Europe and regaining the second position globally in terms of new installed capacity.

According to Guo Yancheng, the chief analyst at Founder New Energy, “The supply of the U.S. energy storage industry is currently insufficient, and capacity growth is relatively slow. For a considerable period, it will rely on some imports to fill market gaps.” In the Middle East, countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are witnessing a surge in photovoltaic bidding. The Middle East Solar Industry Association (MESIA) predicts that the photovoltaic system installation capacity in the Middle East and North Africa will reach 40 GW in 2024 and 180 GW by 2030. Leading firms such as JinkoSolar (688223.SH) and Trina Solar have established supply chain advantages in the Middle East. However, recent tariff policies have put pressure on export profits for energy storage batteries. According to Jiao Yin International, the impact of increased tariffs will significantly affect energy storage batteries in the short term. Customs data indicates that in 2024, China’s lithium-ion battery exports to the U.S. amounted to 15.315 billion USD, accounting for 25% of total lithium-ion battery exports, with energy storage batteries being a primary export product to the U.S. It is expected that both Chinese energy storage companies and local U.S. terminal companies will jointly bear the tariffs in the short term, affecting the profitability of energy storage batteries.

InfoLink energy storage analyst Zhang Guomi previously stated that if the new tariff policy continues to raise tariffs on energy storage lithium batteries, the export profits of products from major producing countries will likely decrease, reducing market competitiveness. In response to this situation, exporting companies are expected to further reduce costs through technological upgrades and supply chain optimization. Moreover, to effectively mitigate the negative impact of high tariffs, these companies may accelerate the establishment of overseas manufacturing facilities.

Notably, on April 15, “industry benchmark” CATL (300750.SZ) disclosed its Q1 2025 earnings report. The financial report shows that during the reporting period, the company achieved a revenue of 84.705 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.18%, and a net profit of 13.96 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32.85%. Brokerage research reports suggest that CATL is less affected by tariffs. “In the long term, Chinese battery companies are gradually advancing their overseas layouts, with production capacity established in Europe, South America, and Southeast Asia. Companies like CATL and EVE Energy have already started cooperation with U.S. companies through technology licensing, and as overseas capacity is released, the impact of tariffs is expected to gradually diminish,” Jiao Yin International stated.