Photovoltaic inverter shipments rise amid falling prices

PARIS – Global photovoltaic inverter shipments are expected to grow by 18 percent year-on-year, to 8.6 gigawatts, in the fourth quarter, according to IMS Research. However, increasing price pressure for PV inverters will dampen record shipments.

In its latest survey, IMS Research predicted Asia will account for almost 50 percent of global shipments in the fourth quarter of this year. By comparison, shipments to mature markets in Europe are expected to drop by 20 percent due to aggressive tariff cuts.

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The first half of 2012 started strong, with global shipments of PV inverters topping 16 gigawatts. But average selling prices fell by about 20 percent on an annual basis during the second quarter. "Following huge amounts of price pressure on other PV components such as modules, PV inverter prices have also come under fire,” Cormac Gilligan, PV market analyst at IMS Research, said in a statement. “Highly competitive market conditions, falling incentives and weakening demand in key markets has resulted in prices declining by an average of 5 percent per quarter for the last year.”

The researcher said it expects shipments of PV inverters over 500 kW will continue to grow substantially in the second half of the year as a result of high demand for utility-scale installations in the U.S., India and China.



In 2013, the market researcher predicts China will surpass Germany as the largest market for PV inverters, followed by the U.S.

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