Schletter Group—a global leader in the development and manufacturing of solar mounting systems—has achieved a 162% year-on-year increase in revenue in the ground-mount segment, reaching approximately 50,000,000 EUR in the third quarter of 2023 despite ongoing market headwinds.

“Despite challenging circumstances in the European solar rooftop market,” says Schletter Group’s CEO, Florian Roos, “orders and installations of our ground-mount systems increased even further in the third quarter. It is clear that the demand for our fixed-tilt and tracking systems is intensifying, particularly across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. This speaks volumes not just about the quality and durability of our tried and tested fixed-tilt products, but the innovation of our tracking systems, the service our customers receive, and the returns they get from their investments too.” 

The primary drivers of Schletter Group’s record quarterly revenue growth in the ground-mount segment were a sharp increase of tracker installations and a number of large fixed-tilt orders from countries including Germany (105 MWp), the Dominican Republic (50 MWp), Türkiye (20 MWp), China, and South Korea. Sizeable Tracking System orders were also received from Bulgaria (106 MWp), Israel, Jordan, and Sweden. 

Schletter Group’s success in this segment has also brought them closer to a commercial equilibrium between ground-mount and rooftop—an even revenue split between its two main product categories—which was one of the company’s strategic goals last year. 

“A year ago,” says Roos, “we established a medium- to long-term strategic goal of making as much revenue from our ground-mount products as we do from our rooftop products. However, not only has the former already equalled the latter—it has marginally eclipsed it. This makes the third quarter an impressive period for us in terms of ground-mount revenue, bringing us closer to the evenly diversified commercial landscape we have worked hard to attain. We aim to maintain this equilibrium for the foreseeable future, even when the rooftop segment returns to normal.”

The Group’s flourishing ground-mount offerings have helped compensate for the reduction in year-on-year revenue from its rooftop range, which was to be expected considering the Europe-wide overstocking of rooftop systems due to the rising of interest rates, shortage of solar installers, grid bottlenecks, and technological transitions in the solar industry. However, over the medium term, the company foresees a positive trajectory with the expectation of increased new orders and a subsequent recovery in order backlog by 2024.

“This highlights the dynamic and resilient nature of our business and its stability in a globally volatile but expanding market,” says Roos. “With our diversified footprint and product range, we are in a position to continue our overall growth even in such a dynamic market environment.” 

Schletter are investing in multiple new revenue streams, optimizing existing ones, and investing in other areas of the business to increase efficiency and position themselves as a stable and reliable organization. In this vein, their production facility in Türkiye is now ramping up—which, when combined with their other production facilities, means Schletter will have increased its in-house production capacity by 200% by 2024.  

The Group is also working closely with one of the world’s most prestigious environmental assessment firms to achieve independent verification and implementable advice to further improve their social and environmental performance. 

“We are constantly working to improve our efficiency and footprint,” adds Roos, “and we as a global brand have never been more diversified or better positioned to serve our growing customer base.”