Inverter market hot

After China’s photovoltaic industry experienced the industrial winter, the relevant national departments encouraged the rapid development of the domestic photovoltaic market, introduced policies such as distributed subsidy policies, renewable energy quota system, and forced power grid acquisition. Driven by a series of favorable policies, China’s large-scale The photovoltaic market is opening soon. Industry analysts believe that domestic photovoltaic equipment manufacturing companies seem to be “benefited by the scourge” because of the “double reverse” in Europe and the United States. The photovoltaic inverter enterprises in the downstream are benefited from the national policies. The market demand is expanding and it is expected to usher in the spring.

Further expansion of the market Under the circumstance that the overseas PV market is sluggish, the government’s willingness to rescue the market is strong, and the four ministries including the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly announce that they will use financial subsidies, “Golden Sun demonstration project” and “solar roof” projects, etc. Promote the large-scale application of photovoltaic power generation in China.

According to the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan for the Development of Solar Power Generation" (the "Planning") issued by the National Energy Administration, it is pointed out that by the end of 2015, China's installed capacity of solar power will reach 21 million kilowatts or more, which means that China's photovoltaic power generation in the next three years. The installed capacity is expected to expand by more than 6 times. In addition, the National Energy Administration also issued a notification notice for the National PV Distributed Power Demonstration Zone. In the notice, the Energy Administration clearly stated that the target number of PV installations for the “12th Five-Year Plan” will be increased by another half on the previous basis. According to preliminary estimates, the "12th Five-Year Plan" photovoltaic market cake will exceed 300 billion yuan.

Huge amount of cake has attracted many parties and domestic photovoltaic manufacturers have extended their tentacles to the downstream. Since PV inverters have no direct connection with upstream polysilicon and solar cells, the expansion of the downstream market will directly drive the market demand for inverters.

In fact, benefiting from the price advantage, the domestic installed capacity has been continuously expanding and domestic demand for photovoltaic inverters has been boosted when domestic companies have occupied a major share of the inverter market. "For the high-power photovoltaic inverter market, although the product prices will still fall, due to the expansion of market demand, the high-power inverter market is still expected to usher in a period of development opportunities." Chaiyari Electric Co., Ltd. New Energy Branch Marketing Director Feng Hao said in an interview with reporters.

Many bottlenecks to be solved According to incomplete statistics, domestic inverter manufacturers have exceeded 150 in 2011, and no matter how many new entrants in 2012, the data alone last year has made the industry appear bloated and abnormal. These enterprises compete for food. At the same time as the market cake, product quality and stability are often overlooked, and the low-price competition situation has further deteriorated.

According to a report issued by Orient Securities, the prices of inverters for some domestic projects continued to decline and exceeded their previous expectations. It is expected that the price war in the domestic inverter market will be unavoidable, and many companies are maintaining their market share and even grabbing the share of competitors through the initiative to cut prices.

In parallel with price competition, the industry shuffles.

In the face of overcapacity, fierce competition, and companies that fail to meet quality standards must be eliminated in the industry reshuffle. But also to see the other side of the coin, any industry must go through the process from peak to trough, which is the law of market development. The state regulates the market from the policy level and sets a threshold to guide enterprises to accelerate technological progress and promote industrial integration. Industry veterans have stated that for any industry, lower prices are conducive to the further expansion of the market size, which is conducive to the rapid development of the entire industry. Because of the decrease in inverter prices, the investment costs of photovoltaic power plants are reduced, and the investment income of photovoltaic power plants is increased. At the same time, cost reductions and fierce competition among inverter manufacturers have prompted companies to continue technological innovations and improve management and operational capabilities. Of course, the falling prices of inverters will reduce the profits of enterprises, and the investment in R&D will be constrained to a certain extent, which will not be conducive to the development of the company in the long run.

The need to guard against the expansion of foreign companies In fact, in the face of the huge amount of cakes in the domestic photovoltaic power generation market and the "dignancy" of government policies, multinational corporations can hardly resist the temptation. At present, the acquisition of a 72.5% equity interest in Jiangsu Zhaofu Aisuo New Energy Co., Ltd. by the leading German solar energy company “SMA Solar Technology Group” has caused vibrations in photovoltaic inverters and even in the entire photovoltaic industry.

“Now that the PV industry is in turmoil, even SMA has made layoffs to reduce costs. This is also the main reason for them to acquire Chinese companies. The reputation brought by mergers and acquisitions will inevitably play a role in some major projects. For domestic counterparts to compete for projects, This may lead to a more intense price war, but it is also necessary to see that the products of domestic companies are not lost to foreign companies. Therefore, this acquisition has strengthened the determination to become a Chinese brand-name company.” Feng Xiao said.

Experts believe that the appropriate introduction of competition is conducive to industrial development, but if similar acquisitions continue to expand, it may lead to excellent photovoltaic companies being acquired abroad and controlling the domestic market. While solving difficulties, enterprises and governments must be alert to the acquisition and strategic layout of China's photovoltaic industry chain by foreign giants.

With the ever-increasing competition in the PV inverter industry, mergers and acquisitions among large-scale PV inverters and capital operations have become increasingly frequent. Domestic excellent PV inverter manufacturers have paid more and more attention to the research of the industry market, especially to the enterprises. In-depth study of changes in the development environment and customer demand trends. A large number of domestic excellent photovoltaic inverter brands have risen rapidly and have gradually become leaders in the photovoltaic inverter industry.