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The Shuffle Continues

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The Shuffle Continues Industry & Suppliers Photo: Kaco Photo: SMA and ABB were the only non-movers in the latest ranking of global inverter suppliers, with SolarEdge the big risers and Advanced Energy’s exit from the industry creating an opportunity for other players to grow. ally, and 24% in 2012. By the end of 2014 The shuffle continues that figure was 14% – still nearly double that of nearest rival ABB, but tangible evidence that its stranglehold was loos- Ranking inverter suppliers: Germany’s SMA looks to have put the troubles of 2014 ening in the face of Asian pressure. behind it this year, benefiting from Advanced Energy’s exit from the inverter market But according to the latest first half rev- enue data from IHS, SMA has engineered to increase its share of global revenue, while SolarEdge is the big riser so far in 2015. an upturn in its fortunes, securing 18% of global inverter revenues over the first six months of the year – an increase on the In May, data published by IHS painted tained their current share in each coun- 11% share it had secured at the same point a decidedly bleak picture for German try this year, it is possible that we would in 2014, and 4% more than the 14% mar- inverter specialist SMA. The analysts’ see a new global market leader,” said IHS ket share it attained over the entire course PV Inverter Market Tracker showed that senior analyst, solar supply chain, Cor- of last year. This is the first time SMA has the global PV inverter market shrank mac Gilligan, at the time. “In fact, for the increased its share of global revenue for 4% in 2014, with global revenue falling first time on record SMA could be dis- nearly five years – the undeniable fruits of to $6.6 billion. placed as the leading PV inverter sup- a root-and-branch restructuring process Intense price pressure drove this plier, if not in terms of revenue then quite that saw more than 1,600 jobs go over the downward trend and served to play into possibly in terms of MW shipments.” course of last year, a suite of new prod- the hands of the leading Chinese inverter Fast forward to fall and the threat of uct launches and the rather serendipitous suppliers – namely Sungrow and Huawei Sungrow usurping SMA as the world exit of U.S. company Advanced Energy – both of which made large gains in terms leader in terms of MW shipments from the inverter industry, which served of MW shipments. However, as the aver- remains, but in terms of both revenue and to create a revenue vacuum quickly filled age price of inverters in China remained overall market share the German giant by many of Europe’s more fleet-footed more than 50% below global averages has actually improved upon last year, and suppliers. ($0.07/W compared to $0.16/W), SMA is on course to perform far better in 2015 and ABB were able to cling on to their than it did in 2014. Wider trends of 2015 positions at the top of the revenue table. These are not the days of complete Ger- The impressive recovery of SMA this “Due to global demand shifting man domination, however. In 2010 SMA year has been newsworthy, but even that towards Asian markets, if suppliers main- cornered 40% of inverter revenue glob- is perhaps not the headline story. The 56 11 / 2015 | www.pv-magazine.com Industry & Suppliers expansion of module level power elec- tronics (MLPE) continues apace, and two of the leading proponents in this space – Israeli power optimizer specialist SolarEdge and U.S. microinverter man- Photo: Enphase Energy Photo: ufacturer Enphase Energy – have both enjoyed a strong year so far in 2015. “The MLPE sector is still heavily dependent on the U.S. market, in partic- ular the residential and small commer- cial segments in which they account for a large proportion of the market,” Gilli- gan told pv magazine. “There has been a lot of partnering with module suppliers in this space, and this is an area that we expect to continue to go from strength to strength.” Further trends covered by pv maga- zine throughout the year include a grow- ing prevalence for three-phase string Enphase Energy’s microinverters have enjoyed impressive growth in the markets of Australia, New inverters at large scale, as well as a grow- Zealand, France and the U.K. as attitudes shift favorably towards the technology. ing preference for 1,500 V components across the solar supply chain. added, however, that IHS does not foresee liked, or where their projects are very “The emergence and continuous pro- a central inverter capacity issue just yet in stop-start,” warned Gilligan. “There will motion of string inverters in large-scale any of the major markets. eventually be more fallout post-2016 with installations, driven by Huawei in China At the Solar Power International (SPI) the ITC in the U.S. Market contraction in in particular (where the company is exhibition held in September, the grow- certain key markets will prove challeng- using its 30 kW – 40 kW inverters in util- ing trend for 1,500 V inverters proved ing for some companies.” ity-scale solar farms) will continue into a hot topic. IHS believes that further next year,” believes Gilligan. In the U.S. test installations at 1,500 V are likely SMA: A second wind market, central inverters are still the pre- to become more widely apparent in the The bigger they come, the harder they ferred option for most utility-scale instal- fourth quarter (Q4) of 2015, particularly fall. But size and strength also bring sta- lations, but – the IHS analyst adds – “this among suppliers such as SMA, ABB, bility, a longer reach and the ability to is beginning to change. If there is ever a TMEIC, Power Electronics and General see the wider picture. SMA was certainly shortage of central inverters due to lead Electric (GE). “We see the 1,500 V market on the ropes this time last year. Revenue times, then certain U.S. EPCs may well be taking off in the second half of 2016 in the share had fallen to 11% of the market, tempted to use string inverters in some U.S., where the main central inverter sup- having narrowed every year since 2010. markets across North America.” Gilligan pliers will have a product ready to shift,” At the height of summer 2014 the com- said Gilligan. “We know that some Chi- Top 10 inverter suppliers (global revenue share) nese suppliers have done something sim- ilar already in China, using 1,500 V in AT A GLANCE 1. SMA Solar Technology – large central inverters.” fi The tilt eastwards is a wider trend of t SMA engineers its rst increase in global revenue 2. ABB – 2010 the solar industry, and one that has been share since as the German inverter supplier reaps the benefits of a proactive restructuring 3. SolarEdge +8 evident in the inverter landscape. How- and marketing strategy. ever, with inverter prices still much lower 4. Omron –1 t Asian pressure has continued to grow, but lower Graphic: pv magazine/Harald Schütt magazine/Harald pv Graphic: in many of the major Asian markets bar prices in China mean the revenues of the leading 5. Enphase Energy +1 Japan, suppliers that have greater mar- Chinese suppliers remain below those from the ket share in the U.S., Europe and some West. 6. Tabuchi –2 of the other emerging markets in Latin t The growing trend for MLPE technologies has served SolarEdge and Enphase Energy extremely 7. Schneider Electric +1 America and elsewhere are still able to well, with both companies growing their global compete in terms of global revenue. How- 8. Huawei +2 share. ever, the looming Investment Tax Credit t Japan’s leading inverter suppliers have enjoyed 9. TMEIC –4 (ITC) phase-down on the horizon at the a steady, if unspectacular year, with some begin- end of 2016 is likely to force many lead- ning the long process of expanding into foreign 10. Sungrow +3 Source: IHS Source: ing inverter suppliers to seek a more markets. t Wider trends include a continued preference for Rankings based on sales revenue for first half of 2015, represented as the geographically diverse revenue stream. company’s market share of the total global sales revenue – in US$ – of the “Price pressure is going to continue to string inverters at large scale and the emergence inverter (including microinverter) industry. of 1,500 volt inverters. Ranking changes compared to 2014 (based on sale revenue). strain some of the suppliers who have not achieved the volumes they would have 11 / 2015 | www.pv-magazine.com 57 Industry & Suppliers pany cut its sales forecast and announced Gilligan says the company has “limited 4 GW in size. “The major advantage of that 600 staff would be losing their jobs. market share.” having a supplier like ABB in the Indian By January this year that figure had “The Chinese market is extremely large market is that the company has many ser- risen to 1,600 employees, of which around and highly competitive, particularly this vice engineers, a large after-sales team 1,300 jobs were to go in Germany – SMA’s year, because of the intense price pres- and plenty of subsidiaries so as regions domestic market. Pressure from Asian sure among the top five suppliers there,” take off ABB can supply products and suppliers had exacerbated an already said Gilligan. “SMA will instead apply its services quickly,” said Gilligan.
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