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Enphase (ENPH) Starts Shipping IQ8P Microinverters to Brazil

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Enphase Energy Inc. (ENPH - Free Report) has recently commenced the shipment of its most powerful microinverters to date, IQ8P, in Brazil. The launch of these microinverters, which boast the highest energy production and reliability standards in the solar industry, should further elevate Enphase’s position in the rapidly expanding Brazilian solar market.

With the unfavorable demand scenario prevalent in the U.S. solar market in recent times, such a move made by ENPH can be expected to boost its international sales and, thereby, overall revenues in the near term. 

Rationale Behind IQ8P’s Launch in Brazil

A rapid adoption of renewable energy sources, particularly solar, has been witnessed in the Brazilian electricity generation space in recent years. Evidently, as of Mar 31, 2023, home and building owners have installed more than 1.8 million renewable distributed generation systems in Brazil, totaling about 19 gigawatts (GW) of capacity, the vast majority of which is solar, according to the Brazilian Electricity Regulatory Agency.

Impressively, solar photovoltaic dominates Brazil’s distributed generation sector, representing 99% of the country’s total distributed generation capacity, per a report published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). This surely reflects the solid demand that Brazil’s solar market has to offer, thereby boosting the need for high-powered solar modules.

To cater to such modules, Enphase’s IQ8P microinverters, which come with a peak output AC power of 480 watts and are designed to pair seamlessly with a full range of solar modules up to 670 W DC, seem to be the perfect choice. These microinverters can manage a continuous DC current of 14 Amperes, thereby supporting high-powered solar modules through increased energy harvesting.

Undoubtedly, the availability of such a remarkable product in the Brazilian solar market will attract more solar installers to choose Enphase’s microinverters, thereby fetching notable revenue growth for the company.

Growth Prospects

With Brazil emerging as a shining star in the global solar space, particularly in Latin America, in recent years, Enphase has been making significant efforts to expand its footprint in this nation. Evidently, prior to IQ8P’s introduction, in July 2023, Enphase launched its cloud-based design and proposal software platform, Solargarf, in Brazil. This platform, using which solar installers can develop production system proposals and plan documents for residential and commercial clients, makes the end-to-end sales and installation process as simple and quick as possible for solar professionals.

Such new product offerings should enable Enphase to further penetrate the Brazilian solar market, which is projected to witness a CAGR of 23.3% during 2023-2028 (as estimated by the Mordor Intelligence firm).

Peer Moves

Apart from Enphase, other solar companies that are making moves to enjoy the perks of the expanding Brazilian solar market have been discussed below.

JinkoSolar Holdings (JKS - Free Report) : In April 2023, the company announced that in 2022, it was the leader for PV modules imported in Brazil, per Greener's Distributed Generation Strategic Study. Consequently, Jinkosolar is expected to surpass a market share of 17.6% in Brazil for the first time.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for JKS’ 2023 sales implies an improvement of 34.9% from the 2022 reported figure. The stock boasts a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 102.66%.

SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG - Free Report) : In July 2023, the company launched its residential energy management system, SolarEdge Home, in Brazil. Comprised of Home Hub and Home Wave inverters, Power Optimizer, Battery, Backup Interface and smart operating system, the solution enables homeowners to increase energy savings and sufficiency by optimizing the production, consumption and storage of solar energy.

The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 15.7%.

Canadian Solar (CSIQ - Free Report) : In March 2022, the company announced that its Global Energy business group has clinched a power purchase agreement with Usinas Siderurgicas de Minas Gerais S.A, involving the building and development of a solar project in Brazil.  Per the agreement, CSIQ is accountable for the development of the 381 megawatt-peak Morada do Sol project in the State of Goiás, where Canadian Solar's high-efficiency bifacial modules will be installed. The project is expected to commence construction in the first quarter of 2024.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CSIQ’s 2023 sales implies an improvement of 15.6% from the 2022 reported figure. The stock boasts an average earnings surprise of 67.89% in the last four quarters.

Price Movement

In the past year, shares of Enphase Energy have plunged 70.4% compared with the industry’s decline of 58.2%.

Zacks Investment Research
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Zacks Rank

ENPH currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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