According to IMS Research, the majority of shipments went to installations in Germany. However, it was found that growth slowed substantially in the country, with Italy and Asia comprising the biggest contributors. Other European markets also performed well, having grown by more than 300 percent year-on-year.
But PV analyst Tom Haddon said that because the German market is expected to decelerate, the fourth quarter will be much weaker. Additionally, he said, significant inventory now exists in the supply chain and a sharp correction seems inevitable.
IMS went on to say that EMEA accounted for around 80 percent of the inverter shipments in the third quarter, down from 90 percent in the second quarter. This was attributed to the high growth of the Americas market, which is estimated to have doubled in size from the same period last year. Overall, all regions were said to have recorded impressive growth, generating more than USD$2 billion in revenues for suppliers during the quarter.
Furthermore, for the second consecutive quarter, IMS said factory-gate inverter prices fell due to the continuing shift towards larger inverters, which have an inherently lower price per Watt.
The company added that with such a strong quarter for the whole industry, many firms may have increased shipments but lost overall market share. However, Satcon was found to be one of the standout performers of the quarter, having increased its share both in the Americas and the global market. Conversely, SMA, which dominates the market, continued to lose further share in the third quarter, despite a record quarter and a big improvement in its supply problems.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.