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Research: PV microinverters and power optimizer revenues predicted to hit around USD$1.5 billion over next 5 years

Solar microinverters and DC-DC power optimizers are forecast to generate more than USD$1.5 billion in revenues over the next five years, according to IMS Research. It says that shipments of the devices are forecast to grow over 100 percent per year and will total more than 16 million in the same period.

Photovoltaics research director, Ash Sharma. Image: IMS Research.

According to the report, Microinverters & Power Optimizers - Success Analysis, Forecasts and Profiles, in excess of 16 million microinverters and power optimizers will be shipped in the next five years, generating revenues of more than USD$1.5 billion for the suppliers of the devices. Yet, despite shipments growing at more than 100 percent on annum says IMS, they are forecast to be utilized in less than 10 percent of the global PV installations in 2014.

Both microinverters and power optimizers are possible solutions for PV installations that suffer from shading or orientation problems, continues the research company, which is where it predicts they will see the greatest uptake. However, it says other possible advantages include the enhanced monitoring and communications, simpler installation, higher energy yields, and increased reliability by removing the single failure point of a central inverter. IMS additionally predicts the devices will be most successful in residential and small commercial installations, “which will account for more than 80 percent of shipments"; only power optimizers will be taken up in quantity in larger installations, since they do not eliminate the large centralized inverter, which would be essential for large-scale projects, it adds.

Photovoltaics research director at IMS, Ash Sharma, comments: “With any industry growing as rapidly as photovoltaics, there are huge opportunities available; we predict very rapid growth in the market for microinverters and power optimizers. Although we don’t see them being used in every installation type, the PV market still offers substantial opportunity for growth for suppliers of the products. Although last year there was only one supplier shipping any significant volume – Enphase Energy – that is all about to change; soon more than a dozen suppliers will be serving the growing market and even market leader SMA now has a microinverter platform following its acquisition of OKE.”

Enphase Energy is currently the only supplier shipping significant volumes of microinverters, says IMS; however research reportedly identified around 15 suppliers, which are set to enter the market. Enphase Energy shipped more than a hundred thousand microinverters last year. If market share rankings were based on units shipped, it would have been ranked the second largest supplier to the global PV inverter market, it concludes.