In the solar industry there are a variety of manufacturers of solar inverters in both the utility segment and the residential and commercial market for self-consumption. Many are the brands with different prices, quality, and technology, but if something has remained constant in recent years in the design and manufacture of solar inverters are the market leaders.
Huawei, Sungrow and SMA remained the market leaders in solar inverters for the fifth consecutive year, according to a new Wood Mackenzie report on the PV inverter market in 2019. These three major manufacturers have maintained the same positions from 2015 to date.
In the fourth position is the Valencian company Power Electronics, which is close to the third-ranked company, SMA. And which has maintained its leadership in the competitive US solar inverter market for another year. In order, it is followed by Fimer, Sineng. SolarEdge, Growatt, TMEIC, Ginlong, GoodWe, Fronius, Ingeteam, TBEA, KSTAR and Chint.
It should be noted that the study counts the MW’s sent by the inverter manufacturers and it is based on this indicator that the classification is made. Since the units sold are not counted, the manufacturers of solar inverters with a greater presence in the large photovoltaic plant sector, such as the Spanish Ingeteam or Power Electronics, are favored. However, it is worth noting that the three main manufacturers, Huawei, Sungrow and SMA, also have a very important presence in the residential sector, with much lower unit powers per solar inverter.
The other side of the coin in this ranking are manufacturers of solar inverters such as Fronius, SolarEdge, or GoodWe, which stand out mainly in the residential and industrial photovoltaic self-consumption sector and have little (or no) presence in multi-MW photovoltaic plants. Even so, their ranking by MW shows that they have very high sales, as they manage to stay at the top of the ranking with very good quality solar inverters at very competitive prices.
Overall solar inverter sales in 2019 grew by 18% compared to the previous year, even though the Asian market suffered a slight contraction.
The numbers for 2020 are presented as a total uncertainty, as all the economic forecasts for the year due to the Covid-19 affection. Although the production stoppage at the Asian factories at the beginning of the year led to a certain lack of demand, the return to work of these manufacturers may lead to a drop in the price of solar inverters that will once again boost demand in the second half of the year.
Market leaders Sungrow and Huawei are at the forefront of developing new, high-quality solar inverters at a very competitive price. Although they may not be well-known brands, Chinese manufacturers have a wide range of highly efficient, compact inverters with a variety of applications (large solar plants, residential and industrial solar self-consumption segment, and applications for hybrid or stand-alone photovoltaic installations)
SMA, the German leader, has been losing the first place it has historically held to the detriment of its Asian competitors. However, SMA’s solar inverters are the quintessential symbol of quality within the solar industry. With excellent after-sales service and the design of highly reliable components, it follows the leaders closely with a wide range of products that more than covers the needs of the large plant, residential and commercial photovoltaic self-consumption segments and excels in hybrid, off-grid and mini-grid systems.
From tienda-solar we will follow the situation closely. We remind the reader that in tienda-solar we will distribute the three top brands in world sales in 2019; Huawei, Sungrow and SMA; and a few more from the rest of the ranking. We invite you to learn more about our catalog and to ask us any questions you may have.
