PV inverter shipments in 2011: 23GW or 26GW

The PV inverter industry did a good job limiting production and clearing excessive inventory levels in 2011. After over shipping about 3GW in 2010 to the global market place the inverter industry was able to meet 2011 installation demand via consumption of these excess plus new shipments. 2011 shipments were based on better demand-matched production rates then the year before when production constraints helped stimulate over ordering and over production later in the year.

Worldwide installations in 2010 were only 17.9 GW and those extra inverters had to go somewhere and that turned out to be to installations during Q1 and Q2 of 2011. If the industry had shipped as much as much 26 GW this year then what happened to the excess shipments of last year assuming the installations of 2011 was around 26 GW as well? 3 GW of inventory is worth about $780M at factory gate prices and this is too much capital to have been allowed to linger in inventory without a large consequence.

Confirmation of this viewpoint comes from industry leader SMA as it stated in its Press Release of January 13, 2012 as well as in a presentation at HSBC/SRI Cleantech Conference on February 01, 2012 that “the solar inverter market of 2011 reached 23GW (2010: 23GW). Strong installations in Q4 were driven by inventory clearance.”

Financial analysts have noted on many occasions that companies can underestimate global demand to give themselves higher market share positions or to hide market share losses. 

SMA further states that according to its sales pipeline many of the Q4 installations in Germany have been registered without having an inverter. This data confirms the IHS iSuppli forecast of 23.4 GW inverter shipments (2010: 23.6GW) which was compiled independently.

It is too early to say that 26 GW were not shipped until final tallies are in but it seems that the strong installations of Q4 have made people believe that 2011 was a record year for inverters. We look at 2011 as the year the inverter industry did a good job matching supply and demand.

Residential solar PV Price Index

The price of ordinary residential solar systems has stabilized, according to October from the solar choose to install a network database data between November and little change. Prior to this, about four months of steady decline in the question about the future of renewable energy targets. Although the overall average prices were steady, careful observation shows some variation between the city and the system size prices. This month, the system is the dearest Hobart and Canberra, and prices are generally at the lowest Perth.

                                                      

The following table contains the brand of solar inverter and solar module installation is listed by the installation.

City	Panel brands used	Inverter brands used
Adelaide, SA	BenQ, Jinko, Lightway, Q.CELLS, RenaSola, Solar Juice, Trina, Yingli	SMA, Power-One Aurora, Delta, Fronius, Growatt, Samil, Schneider, SolarMax
Brisbane, QLD	Canadian Solar, CSUN, Jinko, LG, Luxen, RenaSola, Suntech, Yingli	Power-One Aurora, Eltek, Fronius, Growatt, JFY, Samil, Schneider, SMA, Sungrow, Zever
Canberra, ACT	Jinko, Q.CELLS, ReneSola, Solar Juice, Trina, Yingli	Power-One Aurora, Delta, Fronius, Growatt, JFY, Samil, SMA
Melbourne, VIC	Jinko, RenaSola, Solar Juice, Solarworld, Trina, Yingli	Power-One Aurora, Fronius, Growatt, Samil, SMA, SolarMax
Tasmania	ReneSola, Jinko, Solar Juice, Yingli	Power-One Aurora, Fronius, Samil, SolarMax
Sydney, NSW	ReneSola, Hanwha, Yingli, Trina, Top Solar, Jinko, Solar Juice, Munchen, Canadian	Power-One Aurora, Eversolar, Fronius, Growatt, Power-One Aurora, Samil, SMA, SolarMax, UNO
Perth, WA	Jinko, Solar Juice, Trina	Power-One Aurora, Fronius, Delta, GoodWe, JFY, Samil

Solar choose from more than 100 well-known nationwide network installation to provide market transparency for Australian consumers a fair comparison of solar quotation service. Since 2008, we have completed our free solar quote comparison, more than 85,000 Australian families. Select the business wing of solar, solar business choice, compare the market system from 30 kilowatts and 100 kilowatts, and manage tenders up to 2MW. Solar selection has also developed its own large scale solar farm projects.

About 5 years, 7 years or 10 years, you will need to replace a solar inverter system , but in addition, there are some of what the solar system owner takes no standard maintenance operations. As for energy storage goes, depending on the type of technology used, there will also be a 5-10 year replacement period.

The imformation of solar inverters and battery size

There are more and more problems in solar power system, it is serious because there is real danger of fire when relationship of inverter power, battery capacity, and cable size, and contact resistance are blown out of proportion, especially at the extremely low voltages battery pv inverter  use of 12, 24 and 48 volt batteries.

What is important when operating at low voltages it take high current to obtain high power. High current means large expensive conductors and electrical components. It also means a considerable increase in risk of fire at higher current levels. When you operate at high current levels requires special attention to termination resistance and voltage losses.

Ever wonder why electric companies use extremely high voltages to transport power? It is because of the relationship of power, voltage and current. Power or Watts = Voltage x Current. Example of the extreme is to transport 1 million watts : At 1 million volts takes 1 amp of current or a conductor the size of a toothpick to transport a hundred miles. At 100 volts takes 10,000 amps a conductor the size of your fat asses.

Same logic applies to battery inverters. There are limits on what you the DIY types are completely unaware of. Those limits are battery size, cable/wire sizes, voltage/current relationship, heating, tooling, connectors, and most importantly FIRE. The largest amperage charge controller is 80 Amps! A 80 amp MPPT Charge Controller has the generic Power input limitations vs.

A 12 volt 1000 watt solor pv inverter  requires roughly 90 amps of current at full power. If you push the limit of copper cable requires a minimum of a #6 AWG conductor, in reality a #4 AWG or larger conductor. Well unless you have a $1000 special tool and training to terminate conductors for #4 AWG and larger is out of reach for most DIY. So 6 AWG and 90 amps is a limit you do not want to mess with. Once you get above 100 amps, you had better know what you are doing and have specialized training with a several years of supervised experience. Otherwise you are playing with Fire !

The same relationships extend into batteries of how much current you push into them and take out of them in a given amount of time. Which brings up the question of TIME. Energy and Batteries measurements are expressed in units of Time of Watt Hours and Amp Hours respectively. Watt Hours = Watts x Hours and Amp Hours = Amps x Hours.

Batteries are rated in Amp Hour, usually specified at a 20 hour charge or discharge rate. So if you have a 100 AH battery means it can be discharged for 20 hours at 5 amps until exhausted. Mathematically expressed as C/20 where C = the battery AH rating and 20 is the number of hours. It is important to understand that going forward. 100 AH / 20 hours = 5 amps.

As stated batteries have maximum charge and discharge rates they can withstand. It is related to the batteries Internal Resistance. The maximum rate depends on the battery chemistry type like Lead, Nickel, Iron, or Lithium, and how they are constructed. For Renewable Energy applications we use secondary lead acid chemistry. Lead Acid Chemistry comes in two flavors of Flooded Leas Acid  and Sealed Lead Acid . In those two groups are more sub categories which I will not go into other than to say for RE we want true Deep Cycle Batteries of either FLA preferable because they have longer life cycles, and AGM. Both have advantages and disadvantages over each other. 

As a general rule the maximum charge/discharge current for FLA batteries is C/8, and SLA/AGM is C/4. Some AGM’s can Charge/Discharge at higher rates of C/2 to 1C, but those are exceptions. Now lets tie it all together as it relates to Battery Inverters, cable size, and current.

A FLA battery you can go as high as C/8. Got it? So how much current can a 12 volt 720 AH battery provide? C= 720 AH right? So C/8 = 720 AH / 8 H = 90 amps. Where have we heard 90 amps before? Using Ohm’s Law we know 12 volts x 90 amps = 1080 watts. Just about exactly what a 1000 watt Battery Inverter uses at full power. How many of you have a 1000 watt inverter with a 12 volt 720 AH battery? To clue you in that is about 7 car batteries. 

New solar and pv inverter styles here for you

Solar inverter manufacturers have been enormous pressure over the past two years, in order to reduce the price of inverters for PV module costs have dropped significantly, resulting in a higher proportion of the inverter becomes BOS costs for energy greater impact overall costs.

Advanced Energy Industries has said that it has begun shipping its new flagship based on its backlog of pipeline to PV project "AE 1000NX'1MW scale modular central inverter transformer 1MW, following more than two years of restructuring, which including the outsourcing of production in China, in order to reduce production costs, while providing a higher product margins of key next-generation products AE.

More and more customers have been installed during the quarter, a new central inverters, including utility-scale ground-mounted and commercial facilities.

The Inverter power strong prices, reflecting the products include a wider range of voltages, so that the production of each power earlier in the day, and allow peak efficiency in order to achieve faster main advantage; two, DC high load factor, the rapid increase of the power; three, 98% efficiency rating of production peak will last longer.

However, management unwilling to provide specific figures, the number and the actual number of quarter unit shipments of its backlog, although financial analysts in a conference call on duplication units. Management also noted that this production on the rise and will reach a "steady state" in the 2014 second quarter. The company has traditionally been heavily dependent on the US portion of revenue in its solar energy utilities and commercial markets. However, management noted that it is seeing growing interest and activity in Mexico and Canada, the central inverter.

The company noted that it has also developed a three-phase string solor pv inverter for the booming Japanese market, but is expected to launch in the first half of 2014. The company reported sales growth of solar energy in 2013 to 16 percent in 2012, to $ 250 million, compared with $ 217 million, helped by the acquisition of REFUSOL.

However, sales of solar energy in the fourth quarter 2013 US $ 64.9 million, down 4 percent from the previous quarter. The company as a whole made a net loss of US $ 1.5 million in the quarter of $ 14.6 million a year. AE Solar expects sales in the first quarter of 2014, affected by seasonal factors, partly by demand for new products offset.

SMA has formed a new R & D projects in Germany, making new breakthroughs in innovative photovoltaic inverter concept, will focus on the cooling and packaging of progress to improve the conversion efficiency, cost and service life, which is the key of BOS the cost of photovoltaic power generation system. The project is said to be 1.4 € billion deutsche Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of its "power electronics technology to improve energy efficiency - Part 2: Electronic energy future" part to support initiatives.

SMA Solar Technology, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials and Phoenix has formed a research and development program is called "PV package." PV package is aimed at making alternative refrigeration technologies and materials breakthroughs, and advanced packaging solutions, the drive within the range of 10-40 kilowatts.

SMA Solar said it was responsible for coordinating the photovoltaic package, which aims to maintain competition in the German section of the inverter manufacturers and parts suppliers in the competitive position of the photovoltaic industry. According to the statement, a typical three-phase photovoltaic inverter mechanical and electromechanical components 70% support system is needed to cool the hot electrical components, reliability and long life to suppress a major degradation factor.

Special solar inverters with the new features

Following the release of the Freesun HEC and HEC+ in Q1 2014, the Freesun HE Gen II is available ranging from 450kW to 1700kW. Engineered for serviceability and ease of maintenance, Freesun HE offers up to ten withdrawable conversion modules with an easy front access and direct rear cooling. It can be integrated in concrete stations HESr or 40” ISO container HET, allowing worldwide integrators and EPCs to play with different solutions but all with the same core.

The Freesun HE Gen II integrates substantial advances in control and construction: three output voltage levels 360Vac, 380Vac and 400Vac with wide MPPt windows by using motor control techniques, hyper range of power factor, reactive control during the night, added utility interactive functionalities, zonal VSD fan control without dust filters and automatic derating above 50 ° C or 820Vcc.

“The Freesun HE Gen II is based on intense and close work with the key players of the PV solar sector. Our product has been tested under the harshest environments in Mauritania and the United Kingdom, and now we are boosting its capacity to provide more cost competitive solutions to a price oriented PV market.

The omnik new energy has also rolled out the second generation single phase inverter, it use world class technologies, the maximum convert efficiency could reach 97.5%, and the MPPT adaptation efficiency is high up to 99.9% . 

The second generation single phase inverter has longer life cycle. It becomes more stable and reliable, faster CPU speed. It has higher inverter control accuracy and more convenient monitoring solution without any charge. The second generation series of Omnik PV Inverter are smaller and more compact than the first generation. They have longer lifetime and higher efficiency.

The two kinds inverters above are new styles, there are so many solar pv inverters on the markets,you can also compare their solar inverter prices and quality, wish you to a best solar pv inverter!

Structure and working principle of photovoltaic inverters

The inverter is mainly composed of switching elements such as transistors, so that by regularly repeated switching elements - off, the DC input to AC output. Of course, this is simply a solar inverter wholesale output waveform generated by the circuit on and off is not practical. Generally require the use of high-frequency pulse width modulation, so close to the sine wave voltage across the width becomes narrow, the center of the sine wave voltage of wider width, and in a half-cycle so that the switching element is always in one direction at a certain frequency operation, so that the formation of a pulse wave columns. Then let the pulse forming a simple sine wave filters.

The inverter is a power adjustment device consisting of a semiconductor device, is mainly used to convert the DC power into AC power. Generally consists of a boost circuit and an inverter bridge circuit. Boosting circuit boosting the DC voltage of the solar cell to the inverter output control required DC voltage; DC voltage of the inverter bridge circuit put boosted equivalently converted into a common frequency AC voltage.

AC inverter only has direct conversion function, it also has to maximize the performance of the solar cell functions and system fault protection. Summed up automatically run and stop function, the maximum power tracking control, anti-run single function, automatic voltage adjustment, DC detection, DC ground detection. Here a brief self-running and stop function and maximum power tracking control.

Omnik has launched new single phase inverters,Omniksol-2k-TL series inverters use world class technologies, the maximum convert efficiency could reach 97.5%, MPPT adaptation efficiency is high up to 99.9%, and Omniksol-2k-TL Photon Efficiency No.1 up to 3k in the world.

The morning after sunrise, solar radiation intensity gradually increased, the output of solar cells also increased, when the work required to achieve the output power of the inverter, the inverter automatically starts running. After entering operation, the inverter output will always monitors the solar cell module, as long as the required output power of the solar cell module is greater than the output power of inverter operation, the Hybrid Inverter will continue to run until sunset shutdown, even rainy days The inverter can also run. When the output of solar modules become smaller, the inverter output close to 0:00, the inverter will form a standby state.

The output of the solar cell module is vary with the intensity of solar radiation and temperature of the solar cell module itself. In addition, as the solar cell module having a voltage drop with the increase of the current characteristics, so there can be obtain the optimum operating point of maximum power. Solar radiation intensity is changing, apparently optimal operating point is changing. In contrast to these changes, and always let the operating point of solar modules at maximum power point, the system always get the maximum power output from the solar module, this control is the maximum power tracking control. Most important feature of solar power inverter system is included with the maximum power point tracking this feature.

The price and advantages of solar pv system

Just with any product, the age old saying “you get what you pay for” is relevant to energy systems. Let’s slice a PV system to better understand the cost difference. Whether you lease or purchase a solar system  you may find yourself asking, “Why does this system cost more than that system?” “Is this installer overpriced?” It could be a matter of installation price, but more than likely the cost difference is in the components.

Now,lets see the advantages of the solar pv systems:

Solar Modules were compared at the Photon Laboratory in Germany. The benchmark for the yield measurement is based on the number of kilowatt-hours produced by the front side of a module. Not all panels are equally capable of collecting the same amount of energy.

While the performance ratio is the decisive criterion for the technical quality of a solar module, technology alone is not the only measurement. Long-term stability is equally significant for a product that needs to function well for at least 20 years. Panels that offer durability come with longer warranties.

Proper racking provides a support for modules to ensure proper installation. A good racking system aligns solar modules evenly; creating a flush, clean line. Flashings for roof penetrations and wire management are extremely important for long lasting, worry free performance of PV systems Inverters. 

Micro-inverters attach to each solar panel and therefor make array expansion easy. Inverters that convert power for an entire array limit expansion of the system. Optimizers can be added to these string inverters to allow for more flexibility  Also when micro inverters or optimizers convert power individually, shading on one panel won’t affect the output of the other panels. Micro inverters or optimizers allow you to get the most power from your system.

Some systems have the capability to be monitored on-line. You can see exactly how much power your system is producing as well as identify any modules that may be under producing. If you are leasing a system you might find it interesting to know exactly how much power the system is actually providing and if the lease makes sense.

Focus on the quality of the product photovoltaic power plants

For power plant quality assurance methods,we must first have a professional quality management team, technical innovation and intelligence can solve most problems; secondly, to establish from the relevant standards for manufacturing, installation, operation and maintenance as well as power plants. The focus of photovoltaic power plants should be more focus on the quality of the product life cycle of 25 years of reliability, and enter a dynamic quality testing phase.

As the size and number of PV power plant increases every year, and now the owners are more concerned about how to improve the operation and maintenance of power plants the way through testing and quality assessment, and ultimately to increase the generating capacity of the power station.

In recent years, various parts of the PV installed capacity increasing, component quality problem ensues. Assembly problem is not confined to cells, but also involves a variety of packaging materials components, such as auxiliary junction box.

Different quality grades of material, will bring a different quality components that determines the price of the component. So, the blind pursuit of component costs would cost pressures in all aspects of the industry chain to continue conducting it. In other words, the quality of the components generating revenue directly determines the photovoltaic power plant operation period of 25 years.

As for the quality of photovoltaic power plants, and now the whole industry has developed a number of standards, such as components associated components, parts, etc. have balanced the relevant standards, maturing. But after the completion of the final power plant, how to evaluate the quality of power stations still do not have a unified standard.

However, on the other hand, the standard is just a macro inspection, testing standards should be more professional and refined some. Detection of a third party can not be completely representative of the quality, micro-monitoring system itself or to rely on technology to be realized. For example, components, assemblies PV power plant is the highest part of the cost, price competition in order to seek to reduce the cost of market environment, the quality has become necessary to maintain the supply and demand sides of the bottom line.

Micro solar and PV inverters - advantages and disadvantages

Micro-inverters that accept DC input from two solar panels, rather than one, are a recent development. They perform independent maximum power point tracking on each connected panel. This reduces the equipment cost and makes photovoltaic (PV) systems based on micro-inverters comparable in cost with those using string solar inverter.

The main advantage is that, even small amounts of shading, debris or snow lines in any one solar panel, or a panel failure, does not disproportionately reduce the output of an entire array. Each micro-inverter obtains optimum power by performing maximum power point tracking for its connected panel.

Omnik Solar micro inverter has extremely long service life and compact volume, and could support multiple connected and remote monitor to each moduels , convenient management. No afrid of shadow, it could greatly improve overall power station generation efficieny, let you own the highest return. 

They have a higher equipment initial cost per peak watt than the equivalent power in a central inverter, and are normally located near the panel, where they may be harder to maintain. These issues are however surpassed by micro-inverters having much higher durability and simplicity of initial installation.