Ten brands hold 82% of the PV inverter market share

A survey carried out by Wood Mackenzie, a research and consultancy company in the renewable energy sector, pointed out that the top ten global suppliers of photovoltaic inverters had 82% global market share in 2021.

This is an increase of two percentage points compared to the 2020 survey, when these same companies registered a participation of 80%.

“Despite the increase in raw material prices, the challenges of supply chain and delayed construction, global PV inverter shipments continue to rise and major suppliers become larger,” he said. Annie Rabbi Bernard, research analyst at Wood Mackenzie.

According to the study, the growth of brands is directly related to the growth of European, Indian and Latin American markets, where there was significant government support in favor of global goals for decarbonizing the planet.

In terms of geographic reach, Asia-Pacific consumed more than half of last year's global PV inverter shipments (116,064 MWac). Shipments to China, India and Australia were responsible for the increase in demand, with Huawei and Sungrow maintaining their dominance in the region.

In Europe, in turn, there was 23% of global market share last year, with 50,770 shipments. The result increased local inverter shipping capacity by more than 17,000 MWac in 2021, a growth of 52% compared to the previous year.

“Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, and Poland's ambitious target of 7,300 MWac of solar photovoltaic energy by 2030 contributed to the significant increase”, highlights Wood Mackenzie.

The US, however, saw a small 360 MWac reduction in inverter shipments and accounted for 14% of global market share. Supply chain constraints, record-high raw material costs and rising costs for developers contributed to the slight year-over-year decline.

Company ranking

For the seventh consecutive year, Huawei and Sungrow continue to be the companies with the largest presence in the photovoltaic inverter market, according to Wood Mackenzie. Huawei's share remained stable at 23%, while Sungrow came in second with 21% growth compared to 2020.

Third-placed Growatt accounted for 7% of the market share, replacing SMA, which fell to sixth position. Together, the first three companies (Huawei, Sungrow and Growatt) control half of the world's photovoltaic inverter market.

GoodWe jumped four places to fifth place in 2021 due to large shipments to the Asia-Pacific region, particularly China and South Korea. The company also saw the largest growth in shipments of almost five times between the years 2019 and 2021 .

Another highlight of the study was the entry, for the first time, of SolarEgde into the list of the ten largest brands in the global inverter market, due to the company's penetration in the European market, especially Israel. Check out more details below.