Tough year ahead for PV inverter manufacturers

Although 35 GW of installed PV capacity has been predicted for 2013, inverter manufacturers are set for yet another challenging year with global revenues forecast to remain flat.

According to the recently released quarterly update to World Market for PV Inverters report, IMS Researchers forecast that the top 10 PV inverter manufacturers are likely to suffer from declining inverter prices and, as a result, may turn to new markets such as Japan, China, India and the US to make up for the losses in the core markets of Italy and Germany.

Specifically, cuts in feed-in tariffs in mature inverter markets such as Germany and Italy are pushing manufacturers towards growth markets in Asia and the US. However, these new markets are not easily accessible and manufacturers may find it difficult to penetrate into these markets in order to gain market share..............

Some of the key challenges that inverter manufacturers will continue to face in 2013 will be certification standards, lower cost basis and local manufacturing requirements, as well as intense competition from local suppliers. However, for those manufacturers that withstand the challenges of 2013 and successfully penetrate these emerging markets, the future years are forecast to return to double-digit growth as the PV market reaches greater maturity.
Source: IMS.