FTC Solar, Inc. is a global provider of solar tracker systems, supported by proprietary software and value-added engineering services.
On June 14, 2022, the company closed on the acquisition of all of the outstanding stock of Shanghai Han Xiang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (‘HX Tracker’), a China-based supplier of tracker systems, in order to extend the company’s international market presence.
On July 1, 2022, the company closed on an acquisition of certain assets from Standard Sun, Inc. re...
FTC Solar, Inc. is a global provider of solar tracker systems, supported by proprietary software and value-added engineering services.
On June 14, 2022, the company closed on the acquisition of all of the outstanding stock of Shanghai Han Xiang New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (‘HX Tracker’), a China-based supplier of tracker systems, in order to extend the company’s international market presence.
On July 1, 2022, the company closed on an acquisition of certain assets from Standard Sun, Inc. relating to their pile testing and equipment installation business.
In September 2022, the company announced the introduction of Pioneer, the company’s new one module-in-portrait (‘1P’) solar tracker solution. The company has also launched a new mounting solution to support the installation and use of U.S.-manufactured thin-film modules by project owners and, in August 2023, the company introduced SUNOPS, a cloud-based, tracker-agnostic solar asset monitoring solution allowing asset owners and managers to evaluate the operation and performance of their solar deployments.
The company offers trackers and software solutions targeting the utility-scale solar energy markets to customers in the United States, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, South Africa, and Australia. The company’s Voyager tracking system is built upon a self-powered, two-panel in-portrait (‘2P’) single-axis tracker design utilizing a 60-meter independent row architecture, which provides numerous advantages to the company’s customers. In addition, the company’s recently launched Pioneer 1P solar tracker solution leverages technological advantages of Voyager and provides numerous cost savings benefits to the company’s potential customers relative to other 1P solutions, including faster assembly capability, a reduced pile count and embedment depth, and higher slope tolerance.
In addition, in August 2022, the company entered into an agreement with a solar contracting company to provide the company’s Voyager 2P solar tracking solution to the distributed generation market for sites providing under 20 megawatts of power in North America. The company and its partner company are targeting multiple segments with this turnkey solution offering, including commercial and industrial, community solar programs, projects for independent power producers and smaller one-off projects for sectors, such as agriculture.
The company has continued to expand its domestic and international footprint, along with the company’s customer outreach efforts, during 2023, which have included various large project awards in the United States and South Africa, and the formation of a Customer Advisory Board, chaired by the president of Powin, a global leader in energy storage systems, in order to support the company’s future expected growth and the company’s efforts to provide a world-class customer experience.
The company’s customers include project developers, solar asset owners and engineering, procurement and construction (‘EPC’) contractors that design and build solar energy projects. The vast majority of the company’s revenue in the year ended December 31, 2023 was attributable to sales in the United States and Australia.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, four customers accounted for approximately 23%, 19%, 17% and 13%, respectively, of total revenue. At December 31, 2023, four customers accounted for approximately 86% of the company’s total receivables, including one customer that accounted for approximately 42% of the company’s total receivables.
The company operates in one business segment, the manufacturing and servicing of solar tracker systems.
The company’s product revenue is derived from the sale of solar tracker systems and customized components for those systems, individual part sales for certain specific transactions and the sale of term-based software licenses. The company’s service revenue includes revenue from shipping and handling services, engineering consulting and pile testing services, the company’s subscription-based enterprise licensing model and maintenance and support services in connection with the term-based software licenses.
The company outsources all manufacturing to contract manufacturing partners. The company is focused on growing its U.S. manufacturing supply partners in order to reduce lead times for the company’s customers, as well as other potential benefits. As an example, on February 9, 2023, the company entered into a limited liability company agreement (the ‘LLC Agreement’) with Taihua New Energy (Thailand) Co., LTD (‘Taihua’), a leading steel fabricator and an existing vendor; and DAYV LLC, for the creation of Alpha Steel LLC (‘Alpha Steel’), a Delaware limited liability company dedicated to producing steel components, including torque tubes, for utility-scale solar projects. The Alpha Steel facility, which is located outside of Houston in Sealy, Texas, began limited commercial production late in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In addition to utilizing Alpha Steel to begin manufacturing several of the company’s products during the latter part of 2023, the company also plans to have Alpha Steel manufacture additional products for the company throughout 2024 and beyond. Additionally, the company plans to continue to partner with other U.S.-based manufacturers to further add to the company’s domestic content capabilities and the company will continue to use existing and new international manufacturers to expand the company’s capacity, as needed, to address anticipated increases in future volume.
The company is well positioned to benefit from the accelerating adoption of both one and two-panel in-portrait tracker systems, bifacial panels and larger-format or higher-powered bifacial panels.
The company’s growth strategy is based on (i) increasing its market share in the United States, (ii) continuing the company’s international expansion, (iii) enhancing the company’s tracker product offerings, (iv) expanding the company’s software offering by supporting lean construction, operating, maintenance and lifecycle management and improving the attachment rate of enhanced software to tracker sales, (vi) expanding the company’s sales to the distributed generation market, and (vii) identifying additional strategic acquisitions or other opportunities.
Seasonality
Based on historical experience, the company has experienced lower levels of customer purchasing during winter months in cold-weather climates as it is more costly to the company’s customers to set foundations when the ground is frozen.
Competition
The company’s direct tracker competitors include Array Technologies, Inc. and Nextracker Inc.
Patents, Trademarks and Trade Names
The company maintains a robust program of research and development to continue to enhance and expand the company’s product offerings to the company’s customers. During the year ended December 31, 2023, the company’s research and development costs totaled $7.2 million, including employee salaries and benefit costs.
The company’s trademarks and trade names include, but are not limited to, Voyager Tracker, Pioneer Tracker, SunDAT, SunPath, SunOPS, Atlas and FTC Solar, which are protected under applicable intellectual property laws. The company’s issued U.S. patents are expected to expire between 2024 and 2043.
History
FTC Solar, Inc. was founded in 2017. The company was incorporated in Delaware in 2017.
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