US solar installer Vivint Solar reported both bookings and installations in the third quarter of 2015 below the prior quarter, indicating growth has stalled in the last six months. Major renewable energy provider SunEdison is in the process of acquiring the company.
Vivint Solar reported third quarter PV system installations of approximately 61MW, down from 66MW in the prior quarter, but up 24% year on year.
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Bookings were approximately 71MW for the quarter, up 15% year on year but down from 73MW in the second quarter of 2015.
The total number of solar installations in the quarter was 8,658, down from 9,312 in the prior quarter but up 25% year on year.
Vivint Solar said that ‘retained value’ increased by approximately US$113 million during the quarter to approximately US$793 million, up 99% year on year. 'Estimated retained value' per-watt was US$1.98.
The company reported a higher cost per watt of US$3.12 compared to US$3.00 in the second quarter of 2015 and flat compared to the third quarter of 2014.
Total revenue for the quarter was US$22.5 million, compared to US$16.1 in the prior quarter and up 170% from US$8.3 million in the third quarter of the prior year. Net loss for the quarter was US$50.3 million.
Operating leases and incentives revenue was US$21.8 million, up 205% from US$7.1 million in the third quarter of the prior year.
Initially at the beginning of the year, Vivint Solar had guided solar system installations to be in a range of 290MW to 310MW.
However, total solar system installations in the first nine months of 2015 had reach around 173MW, indicating that the company would need to achieve installs of around 117MW in the fourth quarter to meet the low end of previous guidance.
Actual bookings in the first nine months of the year have totalled 194MW.
However, when the announcement of the planned acquisition of the company by SunEdison was made, Vivint Solar was expected to have installed a cumulative 523MW by the end of the year.
Should Vivint Solar meet the low end of guidance, cumulative installations since the company started would total 422MW.
