Inverters

Global solar PV inverter shipment are expected to increase just 2% this year, to just over 100 GWac, GTM Research’s Scott Moskowitz tells pv magazine. He further reveals that Huawei knocked SMA off the top revenue spot in 2017, for the first time.

The Chinese power electronics company will ship its turnkey energy systems comprising storage inverters, NCM lithium batteries and an energy management system to a 30 MWh storage project being built in Hokkaido, Japan.

SolarEdge’s new three-phase, DC-optimized and high-voltage inverter and monitoring solution to enter the Japanese market in March via distribution partnership with domestic inverter specialist Omron.

The German and Danish technology firms will utilize their various expertise and platforms to help supermarket operators increase their renewable energy footprint and optimize their energy usage.

Inverter overview: As 2017 drew to a close following a record-breaking year for solar, pv magazine sat down to discuss the global inverter landscape with Cormac Gilligan, senior solar analyst at IHS Markit. With China dominant, India’s soaring solar market still very much up for grabs and technical innovation a perennial route to market leadership, these are the six trends that we believe will shape the solar inverter landscape this year.

Revenue for the Israeli power electronics company rises 22% sequentially in third quarter to reach $166.6 million. More than 676 MW of inverters shipped helped drive gross margin of 34.9%.

The German technology firm has bagged orders for the turnkey electrical equipment and installation of two solar farms in Brazil and Pakistan. In addition, it announced the end of its cooperation with German inverter specialist SMA by the year’s end, and plans to manufacture its own inverters.

The Spanish inverter specialist is to supply solar farms being built in Malaysia by Norway’s Scatec Solar, which in turn is working with local ITRAMAS-led consortium on three 21-year PPAs with the country’s largest electricity utility, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).

The El Romero Solar Plant in the Atacama Desert of Chile has been completed using 60 3.6 MW ABB inverter stations. Spanish developer Acciona constructed the solar farm and commissioned it last year.

Switzerland’s ABB has further consolidated its market presence in India’s burgeoning renewables sector, surpassing a 5 GW supply milestone. The company claims its inverters now power 40% of various solar projects across the country, whose accumulated capacity stands at 13 GW.