Conergy Introduces Residential PV Inverter Unit With Energy Storage Capabilities

Everybody is used to storing food in their refrigerator  ... now you can store your solar energy too.


Germany-based Conergy says it has developed a new solar storage solution incorporating an integrated string inverter and an intelligent energy-management system based on modern lithium-ion technology.

With its nominal power of 5.5 kW and a storage capacity of up to 13.2 kWh, the hybrid inverter is designed for four-person households. The refrigerator-sized device weighs 220 kgs.

"In the future, customers will be able to store their sunshine during the day and then use it in the evening or at night, even if the sun went down hours ago," explains Eike Fruhbrodt, product manager at Conergy.   


Source:  Conergy

PV Inverter Shipments Decline 39% As Product Inventory Builds

Global PV inverter shipments declined to 4 GW in the first quarter of this year (Q1'11) - 39% lower than the previous quarter, but 31% higher than in Q1'10, according to IMS Research's latest quarterly report on the market.

Rising channel inventory in markets such as Germany, Italy and France contributed to the disappointing first-quarter results. The report is based on actual sales and shipment data from 35 of the largest PV inverter suppliers, including the largest Chinese vendors. It revealed that although the first quarter of the year is traditionally weak for the PV inverter industry, the 39% sequential drop in Q1'11 shipments was much larger than the 17% drop seen a year earlier.

"Q1'11 was a difficult quarter for inverter suppliers," says Ash Sharma, PV research Director at IMS Research. "Inventory began to build in late 2010, and this continued with order cancellations common for suppliers during the quarter. Q1'11 is now the second quarter in succession where shipments have fallen."

Following a trend seen in late 2010, Germany continued to become less important to the PV inverter industry in Q1'11, according to IMS Research. Since the company began tracking quarterly shipments, Q1'11 was the first quarter when Italy had a larger market than Germany, with over 1.2 GW shipped.

Inventory may be a likely destination for the inverters, given that uncertainty caused by a review of the Italian feed-in tariff (FIT) in Q1'11 halted project financing and stalled the market.

"Even with uncertainty during the quarter, inverter demand stayed buoyant, with installations still being completed from the previous Conto Energia FIT scheme, which expired at the end of 2010," Sharma says.

Germany's falling share of the inverter market was also apparent in the results of its supplier base, with many German suppliers losing share of the global market, the report adds. Market leader SMA Solar Technology reported quarterly results that were down on the same period in 2010. U.S.-based suppliers, such as Satcon and Advanced Energy, continued to perform strongly, because they were less exposed to the stalling European markets.

IMS Research predicts only slow growth in demand for inverters in Q2'11, because several gigawatts of inventory is being held throughout the supply chain. Weak demand in Europe is not clearing the inventory quickly enough for strong growth to return, the company says.



Source:  Solar Industry

Fronius Now Offers Up to 20 Year Warranties on their Inverters

Fronius USA is now offering a 10-Year Warranty Extension on IG and IG Plus / IG Plus V series inverters. Customers can upgrade from Fronius' standard 10-Year Warranty to 20 years by purchasing the 10-Year Warranty Extension for a nominal investment. The 20-Year Warranty shows Fronius' long-term commitment to our customers. We build high quality products designed to last.

As an industry-leading move, Fronius began offering a Five-Year Warranty Extension back in May, 2008. We are pleased that we can now offer a 10-Year Warranty Extension. “These extended warranties of up to 20 years take us up another notch in providing the world-class customer service we refer to as ‘The Fronius Difference’ to our customers.” states Moe Mahone, Head of Fronius USA Solar Technical Support.

European Inverters Dominate Market in 2010

Power-One was the PV inverter market's largest share gainer in 2010, moving up to second in the global rankings, according to IMS Research's latest report on the inverter market.

In addition, for the first time, all of the top 10 suppliers to the market in 2010 were European - largely due to the explosive market growth in key European markets that these suppliers enjoyed. The top five gainers in market share in 2010 were Power-One, Siemens, Advanced Energy, Sungrow and Danfoss.

IMS Research's report also found that the global PV inverter market grew 140% in 2010, with core European markets Germany, Italy, the Czech Republic and France serving as the main drivers. However, some suppliers performed significantly better than others.

"During 2010, exceptional demand meant that component shortages blighted the industry, and lead times for many suppliers extended up to 30 weeks," says PV market analyst Tom Haddon. "Suppliers that were able to source components benefited - with Power-One being a prime example."

"Growth of the small three-phase inverter market for units rated between 10 kW and 20 kW helped suppliers such as Danfoss Solar Inverters, Refu Elektronik and Siemens gain considerable share and move up the rankings," Haddon adds.

High growth is forecast for the North American market this year, which may benefit domestic suppliers such as Satcon and Advanced Energy, which already performed very well in 2010 and were the highest ranked non-European supplier and biggest ranking gainer, respectively. Advanced Energy was the third largest market share gainer last year, largely due to its earlier acquisition of rival PV Powered, IMS Research says.

This year presents very different opportunities and challenges for suppliers as the industry grapples with excess inventory due to oversupply in 2010 and a shifting balance in power toward Asia and North America.

"During 2010, the PV inverter market was very European-centric, with over 80 percent of shipments destined for [Europe]," says Haddon. "However, with faster growth now forecast in non-European emerging markets such as the U.S., China and India, opportunities for European-focused suppliers to gain share may be limited."

Photo: A solar power plant in Finsterwalde, Germany. Photo credit: Q-Cells SE.

Solectria Expands Massachusetts Manufacturing Facility

Solectria Renewables LLC, a PV inverter manufacturer, has held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate an 800 MW manufacturing capacity expansion at its facility in Lawrence, Mass.

According to Solectria, since 2009, the company has increased its total number of employees by 195%, boosted its professional staff (including engineering staff) by 140%, increased its customer service staff by 240% and grown its number of manufacturing jobs by 240%.

SOURCE: Solectria Renewables

Photovoltaic Inverter Market Expected To Reach $8.5B In 2014

The global PV inverter market is forecast to reach $8.5 billion by 2014, growing at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 25%, according to a new report from IMS Research. The report also states that more than 7 million inverters will be sold in 2014, up from less than 1 million in 2009.

Despite a factory-gate price decline of around 11% in 2010, revenues generated from PV inverters more than doubled and exceeded $5 billion for the first time. In the longer term, positive growth is predicted to continue, despite ongoing price reductions and architecture changes, and the market will double in size again in the next five years, IMS says.

Although the development of the PV inverter market is closely linked to PV installations, inverter demand became decoupled from underlying installation growth last year due to shortages, component bottlenecks and double-ordering. The resulting effects were large shifts in suppliers’ market share and a major supply-demand imbalance.

According to the report, a bottleneck in component supply in early 2010, coupled with a booming German market, led to a severe shortage of inverters, which was further compounded by customers' double-ordering amidst the panic. This shortage affected some inverter suppliers more than others, and suppliers such as SMA lost market share, while others such as Power-One captured major share.

This report has confirmed that this shortage has now abated and that the balance has shifted toward a major oversupply of inverters, with high levels of inventory recorded in the fourth quarter of 2010 and the first quarter of this year.

"Despite the shortage of inverters at the beginning of 2010, IMS Research estimates that more than 2 GW of inverters were produced that were not needed," says Ash Sharma, PV research director. "This has led to high inventory levels, both at suppliers' warehouses and throughout the supply chain. This came as a direct result of double-orders being fulfilled and has also led to cancellations and push-backs of orders."

Although announcements from micro-inverter and power-optimizer vendors grabbed the headlines in 2010, the biggest architecture changes came from traditional inverter suppliers, with a dramatic shift toward small three-phase products, typically rated below 20 kW, according to the report. These products were the fastest selling in 2010 and gained major share due to installers' preferences for them in commercial installations up to 100 kW to 200 kW.

Very large inverters above 500 kW also experienced high growth in 2010, with shipments increasing by more than 250% due to robust demand from megawatt-scale PV plants around the world. In the longer term, IMS Research predicts this will be one of the most promising segments of the market for a number of reasons.

"Large central inverters above 500 kW - or even 1 MW - will become an increasingly attractive business area for many suppliers as high demand is anticipated from utility-scale projects in several countries, including the U.S. and India," Sharma says. "In addition, these products are typically highly engineered, with advanced functionality and design, which attract healthy margins and also prevent low-cost competitors from stealing market share."

SOURCE: IMS Research

Solar Inverter Shipments Hit Record Highs in Q3 2010

Solar inverter shipments grew by 50 per cent in the third quarter of 2010 to reach 7.3GW, a new record for the industry, according to latest figures.

But the analysis by IMS Research struck a warning note, judging the market already fully supplied.

‘Again we are referring to a record quarter for inverter suppliers with the previous record of 5GW of shipments in the second quarter of 2010 being beaten by almost 50 per cent in the third quarter,’ said Tom Haddon, solar analyst at IMS.

‘The last quarter, however, is likely to be much weaker, as Germany, the largest market, continues to slow. Additionally, significant inventory now exists in the supply chain and a sharp correction seems inevitable.’

While the majority of shipments were for installations in Germany, growth slowed substantially in that region and the biggest contributors to the market’s huge increase were Italy and Asia. Other European markets also fared well and have grown by more than 300 per cent year-on-year.

Europe, the Middle East and Africa accounted for around 80 per cent of inverter shipments in the third quarter of 2010, down from 90 per cent the previous quarter, partly driven by high growth of the Americas market which is estimated to have doubled in size from the same period last year. All regions recorded growth, generating more than $2bn in revenues for suppliers during the quarter.

For the second consecutive quarter, factory-gate inverter prices fell due to the continuing shift towards larger inverters, which have an inherently lower price per watt.

With such a strong quarter for the whole industry many firms have increased shipments but lost overall market share. 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.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

GE Releases 1 MW Solar Inverter

GE has introduced a 1 MW solar inverter, which will make it the largest in GE's portfolio. The inverter is available in 50- and 60-hertz versions.

"As the demand for cleaner energy continues to grow in the United States and around the world, we expect to see an increase in the number of larger, multi-megawatt solar installations," says Bruce Norman, general manager of solar technologies for GE Power & Water. "As renewable energy penetration increases, so too will the challenge to effectively integrate these larger solar projects into the grid. Our solar inverter technology is designed to tackle the issue of grid reliability, which is critical to the future growth of the solar industry."

GE Energy: gepower.com

SOURCE: GE Energy

AMSC Launches Its SolarTie(TM) Grid Interconnection Solution for Photovoltaic Power Plants

American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a global power technologies company, has recently announced at the Solar Power International 2010 exhibition the launch of its SolarTie Grid Interconnection Solution. The SolarTie solution combines two of AMSC’s proven and proprietary technologies – D-VAR^(R) STATCOM solutions and PowerModule(TM) power converter systems – that are today connecting over 15 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy to the grid. This new offering is a utility-scale grid interconnection system designed specifically for megawatt-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants. By coupling best-in-class power converter capabilities with AMSC’s world-renowned dynamic reactive compensation technology, the SolarTie product represents the industry’s first fully optimized solution for utility-scale PV power plant developers. The addressable market for SolarTie solutions is expected by industry analysts to be approximately $2 billion by 2015.

With a base rating of 1.4 megawatts (MW) and a turn-on voltage of up to 1,000 volts (VDC), the SolarTie solution is one of the most robust power inverter systems on the market. In addition, SolarTie customers will benefit from:

• The services of AMSC’s highly skilled and experienced Network Planning and Applications Group;
• Solar inverters based on AMSC’s proven PowerModule(TM) platform;
• The ability to dynamically control real and reactive power at the Point of Interconnection;
• AMSC’s proprietary Smart Grid Interface (SGI) Controller, which directs SolarTie inverters and reactive power elements to provide efficient energy production and precise regulation at the Point Of Interconnection (POI); and
• Easy integration with STATCOMs and/or capacitor and reactor shunt banks for additional reactive support if installed as part of the system.

The market for utility-scale solutions is forecasted for impressive growth. Industry research firm IMS Research expects annual shipments of solar PV inverters to quadruple from approximately 8 GW at the end of 2009 to 32 GW in 2014. During this period, the utility-scale solar inverter market is expected to grow at a much faster pace than the commercial and residential solar inverter markets.

"AMSC’s SolarTie solution offers grid-management support, reactive compensation and grid interconnection, all of which are required by utility-scale PV plant developers," said Ash Sharma, Research Director at IMS Research. "As a result, AMSC’s product appears well positioned for this growing market."

Similar to wind farms, solar power plants often must meet requirements in a growing number of countries for dynamic reactive compensation. Employing the same technology as AMSC’s proven D-VAR system, which is connecting more than 70 wind farms worldwide to the grid, the SolarTie solution provides instantaneous detection, accurate response and immediate results, ensuring efficient energy production and precise grid management. For example, if a disturbance occurs (voltage sag or swell, passing clouds or other event) the SGI will command the PV plant’s SolarTie inverters to provide the needed reactive support to control the voltage at the POI. AMSC’s SolarTie solution provides sub-cycle (less than 16 milliseconds) detection and response to grid disturbances while many competing interconnection solutions have response times of 10 to 20 seconds.

"Over the course of the past decade, AMSC has established itself as a leader in the renewable energy market with a wide range of solutions," said AMSC President and Chief Operating Officer Dan McGahn. "In fact, our power technologies are now enabling nearly 10% of the world’s wind generated electricity. We are proud to utilize this tremendous experience base to field a highly optimized, high power grid interconnection solution for PV solar power plant developers. AMSC’s SolarTie solution sets a new standard for the industry by simplifying implementation, reducing project cost and enhancing plant reliability."

For more information about AMSC’s SolarTie solution, please visit AMSC at booth #4553 at Solar Power International or visit www.amsc.com/products/solartie.html.

AMSC offers an array of proprietary technologies and solutions spanning the electric power infrastructure – from generation to delivery to end use. The company is a leader in renewable energy, providing proven, megawatt-scale wind turbine designs and electrical control systems. The company also offers a host of Smart Grid technologies for power grid operators that enhance the reliability, efficiency and capacity of the grid, and seamlessly integrate renewable energy sources into the power infrastructure. These include superconductor power cable systems, grid-level surge protectors and power electronics-based voltage stabilization systems. AMSC’s technologies are protected by a broad and deep intellectual property portfolio consisting of hundreds of patents and licenses worldwide. More information is available at www.amsc.com.

Source:  Renewable Energy Sources

Most Efficient Inverters in the USA

SolarEdge Technologies announced that the California Energy Commission (CEC) today published the updated List of Eligible Inverters, placing SolarEdge's range of single-phase 3300W-6000W PV inverters at the highest efficiency rank with up to 97.5% weighted efficiency rating.

DC and AC disconnects and a built-in communication gateway are included and the inverters are rated for indoor or outdoor use (NEMA3R) and are provided with a standard 12 year warranty.

The SolarEdge Monitoring solution is also eligible by the California Solar Initiative (CSI) and appears on the List of Performance Monitoring and Reporting Service Providers (PMRS). The SolarEdge system is available in the US through the distributors AEE Solar, DC Power Systems, and others.

“We are proud to be confirmed as America's most efficient single-phase solar inverter” said John Berdner, SolarEdge General Manager for North America. “It is part of our commitment to our customers world-wide, to supply the most efficient, safe, reliable and cost effective PV systems."

The SolarEdge inverters, intended for residential and commercial installations, were specifically designed to work with the company's PowerBoxes – module-integrated power optimizers – that provide module-level performance-monitoring and safety mechanisms, and maximize energy throughput by individually tracking Maximum Power Point (MPP) for each and every PV module.

Due to the distributed architecture, the inverters always operate at their optimal input voltage, which remains fixed regardless of temperature or string length, the company said. DC and AC disconnects and a built-in communication gateway are included and the inverters are rated for indoor or outdoor use (NEMA3R) and are provided with a standard 12 year warranty.

Source:   Renewable Energy World

More Inverter Shortages Predicted

Global inverter shipments reached 3.1 gigawatts (GW) in Q1 2010 – the largest first quarter total for the industry, and the second highest quarterly result on record, according to latest confirmed results from IMS Research.

Despite this strong result, demand for inverters still outstripped supply and the component shortage and inverter production problems that began in Q4 2009 in fact worsened in Q1 with quarter-to-quarter supply falling. Total global inverter shipments were 3.7 GW in Q4, some 16% higher than Q1.

“In a ‘normal’ year this kind of seasonality would be expected; however, as strong demand has continued into early 2010 with the impending cut to Germany’s feed-in tariff, this sequential decline of inverter shipments contrasts the increasing shipments of PV modules and highlights that the supply of inverters may still be restraining growth of the PV industry," said Ash Sharma PV group director at IMS.

Production constraints still blight the PV inverter industry, with even market leader SMA having to issue a formal apology to its customers; it recently indicated its production capacity would be limited to around 1.3 GW in the second quarter and supply constraints would not ease until July at the earliest.

Whether or not the shortage will impact developers project pipelines in the coming months remains to be seen, but the shortage will likely increase the amount of lead time needed for larger, commercial and utility scale projects.

Source:   Renewable Energy World     To read full article click here.