AREPORT FROM IMS RESEARCH (www.imsresearch.com) has revealed that the global solar inverter market more than doubled in 2008, reaching $2.4 billion. Analysis also revealed that a number of companies traditionally associated with industries such as UPSs, power supplies, and motor drives have found particular success in transferring their expertise to the photovoltaic (PV) inverter market. The global supplier base for PV inverters is likely to change significantly over the next few years, according to IMS Research, with many new companies expected to enter this quickly growing market.
Existing suppliers of UPSs, power supplies, and drives such as Delta Electronics, Siemens, Riello UPS, and Elettronica Santerno have been attracted by the high growth and gross margins of the PV inverter industry and have been able to quickly serve the growing demand to gain significant share of their booming local markets as well as establish themselves as significant global suppliers.
Sam Wilkinson, research analyst and co-author of IMS Research's “World Market for PV Inverters” study commented, “The similarities between these technologies and solar inverters has allowed suppliers to transfer their power design expertise, along with their established sales channels and relatively large production capabilities to quickly enter the PV inverter market with good success.
“Growth opportunities exist in almost every segment of the PV inverter market, however many suppliers have been targeting the 100-kW+ three-phase market which is anticipated to grow by 25% over the next five years.”
IMS Research is now one of the leading suppliers of detailed, quality market research to the global electronics industry.
