Inverters

In an open letter, more than 30 German PV companies and research institutes demand an industrial strategy to retain a domestic solar industry. According to the signatories, that means increased co-operation with France and the consideration of sustainability criteria for PV tenders

The World Energy Council tracks the top concerns of energy leaders and has created a tool with Arup to display its findings. The rise of digitalization issues and the decreasing significance of fossil fuels indicates a strong renewables market ahead and energy start ups are receiving increasing attention from utilities and leaders

The booming large scale and rooftop PV market in 2018 is providing reasons to be optimistic about the future of solar under the Australian sun. Reflecting on his six-year tenure as CEO at ARENA ahead of his departure in August, Ivor Frischknecht points to the role the agency played in bringing down the costs of large scale solar as ARENA’s greatest achievement.

SMA says its new product will offer digital services such as monitoring and automatic notifications to perform maintenance as well as offering an emergency supply system. According to analysts, the varied applications of new inverters signal an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Germany-based PV-storage provider sonnen has closed a new funding round from a group of investors led by Shell Ventures. Sonnen has already began to draw on the funds as it continues to expand market shares in the U.S. and in Australia. Shell Ventures is now a major sonnen investor and future cooperation agreement has been agreed to.

PV inverter shipment volumes have gone up recently, but an increasingly competitive market has seen declining prices, forcing manufacturers to think out of the box to find new business applications for their products.

Spanish inverter maker Ingeteam has reported a massive order to supply Mexican projects, which it claims will increase its O&M services to cover 55% of the countries solar PV installations. Supply contracts are mostly related to central inverters, although string devices, as well as LV/MV transformers, MV cells, and LV switchgear are also included in the deals.

GAAP gross margin improved 4% year-on-year, while shipments grew by 345 MW in the most recent quarter. Through the acquisition of the U.S.-based UPS provider, the Israeli inverter supplier makes its first move outside of the pure-play solar sector.

In the first quarter, SMA saw its sales increase slightly, while EBITDA improved compared to the same period of the previous year. Net profit, however, was significantly below the level of the first quarter of 2017.

Through the transaction, the French industrial equipment manufacturer aims to strengthen its R&D capabilities, as well as its position in the power electronics market. In the first quarter, its solar-related business grew by around 50%.