SolarEdge

German inverter maker SMA has joined forces with China’s BYD after losing US market share to Solaredge, which this year linked up with Kostal to optimize communication interfaces between inverters and storage applications.

The inverter maker will buy 75% of Kokam’s shares for $88 million, with an intent to acquire the remainder shortly after, on the open market. Strategic company acquisitions and close partnerships are characterizing this year’s inverter market, as companies seek to diversify and integrate storage systems and other technologies.

The global top three companies have not changed compared to the 2017 ranking. Still in the U.S., SMA has lost its pole position to Solaredge. Ingeteam, meanwhile, is capitalizing massively on stable growth in the utility-scale market, and jumps from rank 18 to fourth.

German suppliers may still play a central role in providing residential storage systems, however the increasing number of Asian manufacturers on the European market is undeniable. Particularly in the U.K. and Italy, they have captured the lion’s share of sales.

Huawei spoke to pv magazine in response to the latest allegations made by SolarEdge regarding the latter’s allegedly infringed intellectual property. Huawei is adamant it is one of the world’s largest owners of intellectual property rights and fully supports the protection of IP. The Chinese manufacturer denies the claims made by SolarEdge and points to its extensive IP and research and development (R&D) efforts to support its defense.

The company has experienced continued growth and after the acquisition of a UPS supplier – as well the potential for Chinese power electronics manufacturers to suffer under proposed new inverter tariffs – SolarEdge feels confident of continued growth.

Following the claim filed in June, SolarEdge now alleges Huawei has infringed two more of its patents. With its HD-wave inverter topology the subject of the first lawsuit, the Israeli manufacturer now says its Chinese rival also copied its power optimizer technology.

The Israel-headquartered power electronics supplier continues to diversify its business base as it closes its acquisition of UPS provider Gamatronic. Uninterruptible power supply is a multi-billion-dollar market expected to grow in the coming years.

Inverter manufacturers tapped into the major theme of digitization in their product presentations at this year’s Smarter E event in Munich – of which Intersolar Europe is a part of. The solutions deploy smart software solutions for maximizing self-consumption, O&M provision and enable hybrid architectures across all three market segments.

Following Monday’s announcement, pv magazine spoke to Lior Handelsman, of SolarEdge. The company VP is adamant Huawei has infringed the Israeli firm’s intellectual property, and says defending IP will see the PV industry grow.