SMA led the U.S. inverter market in 2014, shipping 24 percent of all inverters sold within the United States. In the same time period, Advanced Energy ranked third, shipping 17 percent of inverters sold in the U.S.
That's according to GTM Research’s latest analyst note, PV Inverter Market Shares and 2015 Outlook. The top three vendors, SMA, ABB, and Advanced Energy, combined to ship 59 percent of all inverters sold in the United States.
FIGURE: Top 10 Inverter Vendors in the United States by Shipments, 2014 (MWac)
Source: GTM Research
“Advanced Energy’s exit from the market creates an immediate opportunity for all commercial and utility inverter manufacturers in the United States,” writes solar analyst Scott Moskowitz about the company’s impending wind-down. “We see these markets as a combined 11.7 gigawatts-DC opportunity in 2015 and 2016."
As outlined in the note, market shares shifted dramatically in the first quarter of 2015 due to uncertainty over Advanced Energy’s ownership status, in addition to strong momentum for SolarEdge amidst the company’s March IPO.
SolarEdge narrowly beat out Enphase as the leading supplier to the U.S. residential market in the first quarter of 2015, according to the note.
“Supply agreements with SolarCity and ongoing adoption of the 2014 National Electric Code (NEC) propelled SolarEdge in the first quarter, but rapid price reduction and new feature sets for traditional string inverters will tighten competition through the rest of the year,” writes Moskowitz, adding that “potential module-level shutdown requirements for the next version of the code, NEC 2017, would bolster long-term growth opportunities for all module-level power electronics.”
The PV Inverter Market Shares and 2015 Outlook analyst note, delivered to GTM Research clients today, reflects GTM’s latest views on the global inverter market. This research provides data on inverter company market shares between 2009 and 2014 with breakdowns of leading firms by region and comments on 2015 trends. The note is available to purchasers of The Global PV Inverter Landscape report, published earlier this year.
GTM Research forecasts the the global market for inverters will reach $7.1 billion by 2018.
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For more information on the PV Inverter Market Shares and 2015 Outlook note or GTM Research’s inverter report, contact GTM’s Zack Munsell.