Solar inverter shipments reached 4.9 GW in the second quarter of 2010 (Q2 2010), growing by 284%, according to IMS Research's recently released report on the global inverter market. More than half of these shipments were for installations in Germany, which grew by 388% in Q2, driving total shipments up to more than 8 GW for the first six months of 2010 – a three-fold increase over the same period last year.
Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for around 90% of inverter shipments in Q2 2010, growing by more than 300% over the previous year. Furthermore, the Americas market doubled in size. All regions recorded impressive growth, generating around 1.5 billion in euros in revenues for inverter suppliers, IMS Research says. The inverter shipment total of more than 8 GW in the first half of 2010 was similar to the total for all of 2009.
‘Records continue to be broken in the PV market, and Q2 2010 was no different,’ says PV Research Director Ash Sharma.’4.9 GW of inverters shipped made it the largest quarter on record and 30% higher than the previous record of 3.7 GW.’
Although shipments measured in MW grew 284% in Q2, revenues grew by 165%, due to a 30% fall in inverter prices. Despite extraordinarily high demand amidst tight supply, inverter prices fell for the fifth consecutive quarter in Q2 2010. Much of this disparity, however, can be attributed to a continuing shift toward larger inverters, which have an inherently lower price per watt, IMS Research says.
With the market affected both by extremely high demand and production issues, major changes in the market share of suppliers are expected this year. IMS Research estimates that market leader SMA Solar Technology's market share fell by 5% in Q2 2010, while Power-One was the industry's biggest share gainer, up by more than 6%.
SOURCE: IMS Research
