PV Inverter Market Achieves Record Shipments in 2011

Results from IMS Research showed that the PV inverter market touched a new high in 2011 and despite a huge inventory overhang from 2010, inverter shipments showed an uptrend, increasing by 10 percent in 2011.

As sales and shipment data are collected from more than 40 of the largest manufactures and compiled, this report is regarded as a pretty accurate indicator for the PV inverter industry.

IMS has been researching the industry for over five years. It currently has eight analysts and a research team consisting of 15 people dedicated to researching the PV market. It now offers over 30 reports and cover every aspect of the supply chain from polysilicon supply to PV modules, inverters and PV system integrators.

Ash Sharma, senior research director, commented on the low demand for inverters in Germany, considered to be the largest market. The fall in shipments in 2011 was attributed to the high inventory levels at the beginning the year.

Sharma noted that in spite of many of these inverters being re-exported to other markets or returned to manufacturers, the demand was clearly not high enough. He added that inventory levels had greatly reduced in Europe but had increased in the USA and Asia, and this was caused by customers stock-piling large volumes of inverters ahead of the expiration of the 1603 program. These inverters will of now be installed in 2012.

In other news, IMS Research predicts that by 2016 annual revenues from the smart gas meter market will reach over $1 billion, roughly four times the 2011 market estimate. According to a report The World Market for Gas Meters – 2011 Edition, growth is anticipated to be strong mainly due to the emergence of new markets for advanced gas meters in Europe and Asia.