Emeren Group Ltd. SOL recently announced the sale of a solar project in Maine, with a generation capacity of 2.8 megawatts-direct current (MWdc), to Altus Power. This divestment should bolster SOL’s revenues from the United States through project monetization.
 
This project is the last asset to be sold from Emeren's Maine pipeline. It is now fully operational.

SOL Stock’s Presence in the U.S. Solar Market

Emeren has a strong presence in the U.S. solar market. The company has developed and sold projects in states like Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and California. It focuses on community and utility-scale solar, as well as solar-plus-storage projects.
 
Notably, as of Sept. 30, 2024, Emeren owned 272 megawatts (MW) of operating solar photovoltaic (PV) projects. Of these, the company operates 24 MW of rooftop projects in the United States. This surely reflects the strong footprint that SOL enjoys in the U.S. solar market.

Growth Prospects for Emeren

Looking ahead, the U.S. solar energy market is expected to grow rapidly in the coming years, driven by decreasing costs of solar panels, supportive government policies, increasing electricity demand backed by expanding data center growth as well as enhancing corporate investments in solar.
 
This is likely to have prompted the Mordor Intelligence firm to forecast a compound annual growth rate of 16.5% for the U.S. solar energy market during the 2024-2029 time period.
 
Such solid market prospects offer growth opportunities for Emeren. Notably, as of Sept. 30, 2024, the company had an impressive solar development project pipeline of 7,684 MW, with the United States constituting of 2,198 MW. Successful monetization of such a solid project pipeline, like the latest sell-off SOL has done in Maine, should continue to bolster its U.S. revenues in the coming years.

Opportunities for Other Solar Stocks

Other solar companies that are likely to benefit from the expanding U.S. solar energy market are discussed below.

FTC Solar FTCI: Based in Austin, TX, this company provides solar tracker systems. In November 2024, FTCI revealed that it will be supplying trackers for more than one gigawatt of solar projects for Dunlieh Energy beginning in 2025. The first project expected under the agreement is the Situla Energy Project, a 500-MW utility-scale solar and battery facility under development in Banner County, NE.
 
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FTCI’s 2025 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 110.3%. Its consensus estimate for 2024 loss has improved over the past 60 days.
 
First Solar FSLR: It remains the largest PV solar module manufacturer in the United States. On Sept. 6, 2024, the company inaugurated its new $1.1 billion thin-film solar manufacturing facility in Lawrence County, AL. FSLR is currently constructing a 3.5 GW facility in Louisiana, which is expected to be commissioned in the second half of 2025.

First Solar has a long-term (three to five years) earnings growth rate of 43.4%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSLR’s 2024 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 25.5%.

Enphase Energy ENPH: It enjoys a strong position as a leading U.S. manufacturer of microinverters. In November, the company launched its IQ PowerPack 1500, a new portable energy system, in the United States. In the same month, it also started shipment of its IQ Battery 5Ps produced in the United States.

Enphase has a long-term earnings growth rate of 3.6%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ENPH’s 2025 sales indicates year-over-year growth of 27.7%.

SOL Stock’s Price Movement

Shares of SOL have gained 39% in the past six months against the industry’s 28.4% decline.

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SOL’s Zacks Rank

SOL 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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