Fluence, once one of the top three BESS system integrators in the world , recently announced that due to delays in the capacity ramp-up of its U.S. production plants, the company will only be able to achieve the lower limit of its previously expected revenue guidance in fiscal 2025.On August 20, Fluence reported third-quarter financial results for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025. Its quarterly revenue reached $602.5 million, up 24.7% from $483 million in the same period last year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) were $27.4 million in the third quarter of 2025, compared to $15.6 million in the same period of 2024.During the quarter, the company signed new customer orders worth US$508.8 million (RMB 3.586 billion), bringing the total backlog of orders to approximately US$4.9 billion (RMB 35.149 billion ).As most of the company's projects under construction are located in the Americas (mainly concentrated in the United States), management said that projects that were suspended last quarter due to policy uncertainties have now been gradually restarted.“We had to pause the execution of some of the contracts that we had signed. All of those contracts are now back online and entering the execution phase ,” Fluence CEO Julian Nebreda explained on the earnings call.Fluence's GAAP gross margin has remained profitable since the first quarter of 2023, although the metric declined slightly from 13.1% in the second quarter of 2025 to 12.7% in the third quarter.While the company reiterated its original revenue guidance of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion for fiscal 2025, it expects actual revenue to be near the lower end of that range.The United States will form a domestic supply chain marketFluence was forced to lower its guidance in the first quarter due to delays in signing customer contracts for three projects in Australia, which resulted in a significant reduction in expected revenue by about $600 million.The current guidance was provided in the second quarter, during which the company simultaneously lowered its EBITDA outlook from $70 million to $100 million to $0 to $20 million, a forecast that remains unchanged.The latest financial report shows that due to the delay in the construction of domestic production capacity, approximately US$100 million in revenue will be deferred to the first half of 2026.Despite this, the company will continue to view domestic manufacturing in the United States as a long-term strategic advantage through its own facilities and partners such as battery supplier AESC.The US market accounts for approximately half of Fluence's business. In addition to sourcing batteries from AESC's Tennessee plant, the company is also building a module plant in Utah, a component plant in Texas, and a battery energy storage system (BESS) casing assembly facility in Arizona.CEO Nebreda stated at the earnings conference that the Arizona production line encountered "typical challenges during the ramp-up phase." He explained, "The Arizona plant is essentially a technology transfer from our Vietnam production base. Some processes and other aspects required adjustments to accommodate US conditions, which delayed the start-up and ramp-up period. We now believe all issues are under control."Nebreda particularly emphasized that the plant will use 100% domestic American steel to produce energy storage cabinets and said, "No one believed that American steel could be used to achieve economical and efficient BESS energy storage cabinet manufacturing before."With the introduction of new tax credit eligibility rules for "Foreign Entities of Concern" (FEOC) companies in the United States, restricting the purchase of materials or equipment from China, and the current localization incentive policy, Fluence is actively planning to meet localization requirements."We have always believed that the U.S. battery energy storage market will form a domestic supply chain," Nebreda said, emphasizing that Fluence's localization strategy was launched even before the Inflation Reduction Act was passed.Nebreda said the introduction of the Great Beauty Act confirms this assessment. "We view it as an opportunity for development, not a threat. This has always been the fundamental premise of our strategic planning."According to the 2024 global BESS system integrator shipment rankings recently released by research firm Wood Mackenzie, Fluence has fallen out of the top five. The company ranked second and third in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
