Solar boom stoking global demand for microinverters, power optimizers
By William Pentland
The surge in deployment of solar panels is accelerating the pace of growth in the global power electronics market, a critical segment of the solar industry supply chain.
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Credit: MartinLisner |
Although the average price for conventional solar inverters declined by 16% last year, the power electronics industry reported significant revenue growth during the same period. Indeed, the segments of the power electronics market catering to the solar industry grew by nearly one third year over year to about half a billion dollars in 2014.
Microinverters and power optimizers are projected to be among the hottest of the hot spots in terms of near-term demand growth, according to IHS Technology's PV Inverter Intelligence Service.
In a recent analysis, IHS Technology estimated that the global market for microinverters and power optimizers could grow by 19% annually over the next four years, reaching more than $1 billion in 2019.
Microinverters convert direct current (DC) electricity generated by solar panels into alternating current (AC) that can be used by all electrical devices. A conventional inverter is designed to convert power from multiple solar modules. By contrast, microinverters are designed to convert electricity from only a single module. As a result, microinverters tend to cost more upfront than conventional inverters. However, it turns out that microinverters are also spectacularly efficient, delivering up to 25% more electricity than conventional string or central inverter devices.
Power optimizers are designed to take a similar approach to microinverters by performing a process called maximum power point tracking at a module level. Unlike microinverters, power optimizers still rely on a conventional inverter for the DC-AC conversion.
Companies that make solar panels – or modules – are increasingly embracing microinverters and power optimizers to differentiate themselves from competitors and expand the options they can offer their customers.
"Sunpower's 2014 acquisition of SolarBridge, a leading microinverter supplier, indicates that module suppliers will consider acquisition, rather than just partnership," said Cormac Gilligan, senior analyst, solar supply chain, IHS Technology. "As suppliers release next-generation models, and as prices fall, we can expect more vertical integration to occur."
The United States is currently the largest market for microinverter and power optimizer suppliers, including companies like Enphase and SolarEdge. The U.S. is likely to remain a top market for several years to come.
According to IHS Technology, global residential and small-commercial installations of microinverters and power optimizers are expected to reach 75 gigawatts (GW) over the next five years. The United States is projected to account for one out of every five of those installations.
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