Global PV inverter shipments increase by 2% in 2018

GTM Research research shows that global solar PV inverter shipments are expected to increase by only 2% this year, exceeding 100 GWac.

Photovoltaic inverter
US-based GTM Research announced that solar PV inverter shipments reached a record 98.5 GWac in 2017, a 23% increase from 2016, due to strong growth in China. Among them, Huawei for the first time surpassed SMA to win the world.
According to Scott Moskowitz, senior researcher in solar energy research, “In 2017, GTM's forecast for the inverter market was completely replaced by a substantial increase in the Chinese market. Although the US and Japan are indeed declining, the Chinese market has explosively installed more than 50 GWdc. Solar energy. This has resulted in more than 100 GWdc installations worldwide and PV inverter shipments of 98.5 GWac."

This year, GTM Research predicts that global PV inverter growth will be only 2%, reaching 100.5 GWac. This is similar to IHS Markit and is expected to ship 104 GWac.

As far as suppliers are concerned, GTM Research further reported that, like 2016, Huawei, Sunshine Power, SMA and ABB are still leading the global market. But in terms of revenue, the top five vendors include Huawei, SMA, Sunshine, SolarEdge and ABB. Among them, SMA was first squeezed out of the first throne, replaced by Huawei. Although in 2015, Huawei has ranked second in the world. At the same time, SolarEdge also surpassed Sunshine Power for the first time in the top five.

Moskowitz commented on the development trend of the inverter market in 2018: “In the past five years, the main trend of the PV inverter market has continued to exist. Top suppliers continue to gain share. String inverters continue to be in the utility industry. The solar market is playing a leading role and the 1500 volt inverter continues to become more popular. We expect these trends to continue into the next few years."