Huawei enjoys greatest 12-month gain in global inverter marke

Data released today by IHS reveals that China's Huawei has enjoyed the largest 12-month gains in the global PV inverter market.

While the telecommunications giant has made impressive strides in the sector, traditional pure-play inverter suppliers such as SMA and ABB have seen their stranglehold of the market loosened.

Germany's SMA remains the leading inverter supplier in terms of market share, but the first three quarters of 2014 have seen the inverter giant relinquish some 6% of its lead to rivals. ABB, in second place, has lost slightly more than 1% of the market.

According to IHS senior analyst for PV inverter research Cormac Gilligan, this latest shuffle is an indication that the balance of power in the inverter market is beginning to tilt away from Europe.


"Global PV inverter supplier rankings have changed substantially over the past 12 months, led by large gains from Japanese, Chinese and module-level power electronic suppliers," Gilligan said.

SMA’s limited exposure to the soaring Japanese and Chinese markets – coupled with declining orders in Europe – have undermined the company’s bottom line at the same time that Huawei has enjoyed dramatic growth in its domestic Chinese market.

The telecoms specialist is now one of the leading inverter names in China, and now shares the 4.8 GW of inverter shipments recorded in the country in Q3 2014 with other leading inverter manufacturers in china, such as Sungrow and TBEA Sunoasis.

"Suppliers with a major presence in the U.S., Japan, China and other high-growth markets were some of the biggest year-over-year gainers, while those that were heavily reliant on Germany, Italy and other countries that previously led the market lost considerable market share," added Gilligan.

Japan’s high-price domestic market puts it in first place in terms of global inverter revenue, which has had the knock-on effect of propelling its domestic inverter suppliers – such as Omrom, Tabuchi and TMEIC – up the global market share charts, with revenues largely drawn from Japan only.

The increase in market share of microinverter company Enphase and power optimizer specialists SolarEdge suggests that module level power electronics (MLPE) are an increasingly preferred option for installers and consumers, particularly in the U.S. and Europe where there appears to be robust demand for this type of technology.

Europe’s most dynamic PV market, the U.K., has helped improve the market share of Schneider Electric – where the European inverter supplier is active – while its presence in France, India and Japan has also helped the company gain considerable market share over the past year. Indeed, Schneider Electric was the only European company to enjoy a positive 2014, growing its global revenue share by almost 2% in the first three quarters of the year – the third-best performance after Huawei and Tabuchi.

TMEIC, TBEA Sunoasis and Enphase Energy all gained between 1-2% in the first three quarters of the year, with Omron and SolarEdge boosting their market share by less than 1%.

Tuhao PV inverter top configuration

1,DC Clapper contactors

 
This is called the DC Clapper contactors, only ABB companies have. And in the original process, using magnetic blow extinguishing system design, there are super-extinguishing capability, on-off current of 4000ADC, voltage up to 1500VDC, especially suitable for harsh conditions, still require products with high performance industrial applications, but the price particularly expensive, a 1000V1200A2 level contacts, the price is about 18,000.

It is capable of the most critical performance IGBT, bus capacitors and other devices, such as a short circuit in case of emergency, disconnect the DC side at high currents, protecting people, components, safety equipment.

2,  EC centrifugal cooling fan

 
This is called EC centrifugal cooling fan, EBM production company. There are three kinds of cooling fan, AC AC fans, AC DC fan, and fan speed EC. AC AC input, the internal fans with integrated converter, external access to a PWM signal can achieve stepless speed control module built-in intelligent maintenance-free brushless DC motor, comes with RS485 output interface, 0-10V sensor output interface, 4 -20mA speed switch output interface, output interface and alarm signal output from the main interface. The product has a high intelligence, high-energy, high efficiency, long life, low vibration, low noise, and other characteristics can work uninterrupted.

The greatest feature of this fan is the frequency control function, according to the characteristics of photovoltaic power generation system, it is not every day than the speed of the fan switch 30% less, so it consumes less power than the other 35% of the fan, a 500KW solar inverter, a year can save 500 kWh. Less than other fan speed 30%, plus high-quality bearing service life of the fan speed is not more than 2 times.

3, Concept drives, fiber optic transmission.


CT-Concept, Switzerland is the world's large, medium power IGT drive technology and market leader, after 20 years of business, gradually occupies more than 80% of the global market share. CT-Concept launched a series of superb IGBT drive, high-end technology, functional excellence, high quality, cost-effective ideal to meet customers' most demanding and meticulous. Especially SCALE series IGBT drive, using original SCALE ASIC chipset driver for the global market and establish the authority of the industry standard.

This driver board the biggest feature is the use of magnetic and optical isolation technology transfer program, the usual way of light isolated magnetic isolation and quarantine, isolation optocoupler isolation mode due to the relatively low voltage, there are aspects of the transmission delay, aging and reliability, etc. issue. The use of pulse transformer isolation methods (magnetic separation) can achieve relatively high isolation voltage, and high reliability transformers, transmission delay is small, can achieve higher switching frequency, and there is no problem of aging.

Using optical fiber transmission, you can completely avoid the signal generator to the electrical interference between the driver board.

4, laminated busbars and the perfect combination of DC link film capacitors


Powder coating type busbar using anti-aging, corrosion resistance, high-performance insulation powder, with a smooth and shiny appearance and excellent electrical properties. DC from custom capacitor and the IGBT is not more than 10mm.

By the partial discharge is caused by the air gap between the positive and negative, so to minimize the air gap, there are two methods: 1, the adhesion between the busbars and the insulating sheet closely as possible, leaving no air gaps between the two, busbars and insulation sheet to be very clean, can not have any dust and dirt.

Stray inductance generated voltage spikes, voltage spikes higher, the greater the damage to the IGBT, the greater the loss of the system. Commonly used methods to reduce the stray inductance has three: one is the distance between the positive and negative currents as short as possible, two positive and negative direction is current as possible down overlay, 3 is the distance between the capacitor to the IGBT as short as possible.

5, ClassH level Reactor


Magnetic material with a thickness of 0.23mm loss low gold-oriented silicon steel, silicon steel thinner, the less iron loss. Using very thin silicon steel, making high-frequency loss in the core losses to a minimum point.

Conductive material of high quality magnet wire of 0.05mm outsourcing double Nomex, the wire only has a very low resistivity, while its temperature levels also increased to 220C.

Insulation material used using Dupond (DuPont) Company quality aromatic type Nomex paper, pressed glass insulation sheet.

Crystal Electric PV inverter sent solar power for Kadwa Patidar community

Crystal Electric brought green solar electricity for Kadwa Patidar communities in the UK. Kadwa Patidar community originally built by a member from India in 1975, and they work hard to raise funds for the construction of the community, to 1993, the community has been able to have a variety of cultural activities organized by the conditions, including religious festivals, sports events, cultural performances and more.

The community hall porch roof and install a total of 276 high-efficiency solar module, project totaling 69kW, could be generating over 200 degrees every day, not only to meet the community's electricity every day, but also for 85% of the electricity transmission grid. 4 three-phase PV inverter MPPT tracking with high accuracy and high conversion rate of the community to provide a steady stream of clean solar power, with an estimated annual generation 57000 degrees. From energy conservation, government subsidies and sell electricity generating revenue, the annual total of about earns £ 11400. This calculation, the investment can be recovered in seven years.

Peter the manager of the community project is very satisfied: "The community in people's daily life plays an important role in people's wedding here, meetings, visits to the theater, to throw a party and so now they find these activities. solar power is the conversion, which is really amazing! "

2014 top 10 PV Inverter manufacturers: Asian Suppliers Tighten Grip as European Leadership Weakens

The number of Asian companies appearing among the world’s top 10 PV inverter manufacturers doubled in 2014, with four from China and Japan appearing within the charmed circle, compared to just two in 2012 and none in 2011.

Rising demand for PV inverters from Asian markets has resulted in domestic suppliers accounting for a growing share of the global market. China and Japan together represented 35 percent of global PV inverter revenue in 2014, unlike just 12 percent in 2011. Capitalizing on the high-entry barriers to international suppliers in these booming regions, Asian suppliers have succeeded in dominating their domestic markets and have now been catapulted into the global top 10, as shown in the attached table.



Chinese-based inverter manufacturer Sungrow continued to command a leading position in the fast-growing Chinese market. In last year’s final quarter alone, the company shipped over 2 gigawatts (GW) of inverters, the majority to its domestic market. China underwent an intense rush to complete photovoltaic systems before the end of 2014 in order to beat a scheduled decrease in the feed-in tariff rate.

Sungrow’s shipments nearly equaled a record held by Germany’s SMA Solar Technology, which achieved almost 2.4 GW of global shipments during a single quarter in 2010. But even though Sungrow shipped more inverters in megawatt terms in the final quarter of 2014 than any other supplier, extremely low average prices for central inverters in China meant that it was only the second largest supplier in revenue. Even so, this marked a notable increase considering that Sungrow had not appeared in the top 10 during any other single quarter in 2014.

East heads West

While the domestic business of these four Asian suppliers has enabled them to achieve significant share in global market revenues, all have minimal sales outside of their home markets.

“Although Asian suppliers have had a huge impact on the global rankings due to their success in local markets, their bearing on international markets outside of China and Japan has currently been quite limited,” noted Wilkinson. “Just the same, the economies of scale, expertise and brand strength that they have now been able to achieve makes them well placed for international expansion, and the world is likely to see many of these suppliers play a greater role in markets outside Asia over the next two to three years.”

Western suppliers lose ground

In contrast to the success of Asian suppliers, the competitive position of Western firms has worsened considerably. In 2008 eight of the top 10 spots were held by Europeans—and the remaining two also had strong European connections; but only four remained in that echelon as of last year. IHS also noted that three of the largest manufacturers in 2008 have also been acquired, while one has exited the industry altogether.

The decline of the PV market in Europe has placed European suppliers in a very vulnerable position. Many of these suppliers relied heavily on Europe as the backbone of their business and were highly exposed to the rapid shift in demand from Europe to other regions. Annual PV inverter revenues from Europe have halved in the last two years, creating an extremely tough competitive environment, and many of the leading names from five years ago have vanished from today’s list of leading suppliers.

Canadian Solar could buy Sharp’s US solar developer Recurrent Energy

Further reports have emerged that Sharp is nearing the sale of US solar developer Recurrent Energy, with news outlets claiming a deal has been agreed with Canadian Solar worth about ¥30 billion (US$247.5 million).

Japan-headquartered Sharp appears to have been trying to sell off Recurrent Energy for a short while, after a series of unconfirmed reports emerged in September that this was the case. At the time a company spokeswoman said that while the company was considering a number of options for Recurrent, including its sale, nothing had been decided.



In the latest turn of events, Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei reported over the weekend that Sharp had agreed the sale as part of an ongoing process to concentrate on its core businesses. So far this has included the company exiting its thin-film join venture (JV) with Enel at a cost of around US$141 million in July and the earlier closure of a PV module assembly plant in Wales, UK. Additionally, the company has been among many in Japan to suffer the effect of a controversial hike in consumption tax.

Recurrent was only purchased by Sharp in 2010. Nikkei claimed that the deal between the two parties had not yielded significant benefit to Sharp, with Recurrent not electing to use its new parent company’s panels in substantial volumes. According to Nikkei the deal with Canadian Solar could be completed by the end of the year.

Reuters news agency reported this morning that Sharp had said since the Nikkei report that it was considering various options including the sale of Recurrent Energy but was yet to make a final decision on the deal. Meanwhile, Sharp announced this morning in Japan that it completed and connected a 2.6MW solar farm project in Tochigi, eastern Japan at the end of November.

Foresight Solar Fund buys UK’s largest PV project

The Foresight Solar Fund has agreed to buy the 46MW Landmead solar farm, the largest in the UK.

The plant, in the county of Oxfordshire, is still under construction by German firm BELECTRIC with grid connection expected later this month. The plant expects to be accredited for support at 1.4ROCs under the renewable obligation. That scheme closes to projects over 5MW at the end of March.

The acquisition is agreed under a binding contract subject to the developer meeting all required criteria and the completion of grid connection.

On completion, the deal will take the Foresight Solar Fund’s UK assets to 231MW.

“This agreement with BELECTRIC to acquire the 46MW Landmead solar plant, will boost the company’s capacity by around 25%,” said Ricardo Piñeiro, director, Foresight Solar Fund. “Following acquisition, Foresight Solar Fund will own and operate four of the largest solar power plants in the UK, with an enterprise value in excess of £300 million, doubling the size of the company within 15 months of IPO,” added Piñeiro.

The company also owns the 32.2MW Wymeswold plant and the Bournemouth and Kencot plants, 37.3 and 37.2MW respectively.

Kong Sun to boost Chinese DG PV by 600 MW

Hong Kong investment company Kong Sun Holdings Limited has announced this week a partnership that will swell China’s growing distributed generation (DG) solar capacity by 600 MW over the next three years.

Kong Sun will partner with Chinese EPC firm Wuxi Liansheng to develop DG systems across China in a collaborative project due to commence in 2015.

The framework agreement announced by Kong Sun gives the company priority rights to invest in any DG project developed by Wuxi Liansheng that has a capacity greater than 5 MW. The investment company added that the expected internal rate of return (IRR) is higher than 12% per project.

 Kong Sun's movement into China’s growing DG sector could be a sign that the larger investment firms are beginning to support this growing segment of the market. Having previously operated solely within the ground-mount, utility-scale PV sector, this cooperation with Wuxi Liansheng, plus an earlier agreement announced late last month with Yucheng Hangyu, signifies a "furtherance of the Group's entrance into the DG PV power system market", read a company statement.

Kong Sun, formerly a large player in China's real estate market, switched its attentions to solar PV in the Fall of this year, quickly stockpiling a solar portfolio of 70 MW.

The company's pledge to help develop China's DG industry will be welcomed within the People’s Republic. Bold plans announced earlier this year to source 8 GW of a targeted annual growth capacity of 14 GW from DG have thus far fallen short.

In May, data from China's National Energy Agency (NEA) revealed that just 188 MW of DG capacity had been installed, and despite hopes being pinned on an end-of-year glut boosting numbers, solar analysts have warned that further contractions are likely at the end of the year – a situation that could allow Japan to end 2014 as the world’s largest market in terms of new PV capacity added.