Citing an intensely competitive market environment, SMA Solar Technology, the leading PV inverter manufacturer, reported preliminary full-year financial results of €1.7 billion in sales for 2011. SMA Solar had previously cut €200 million from its previous forecast of €1.9 billion to €1.7 billion, with results therefore coming in at the lowered figure. SMA Solar reported 2010 sales of €1.9 billion. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) were reported as being more than €240 million.
PV inverter supplier, Satcon Technology is realigning its business operations and significantly cutting operating expenses to reach breakeven mid-year. Europe and Canada business efforts are being scaled back, which includes the closure of its manufacturing facility in Ontario, Canada and an overall headcount reduction of 140 worldwide, or approximately 35%. Satcon will also stop production of its Solstice product line.
Market research firm, IHS iSuppli has undertaken its first product teardown and analysis within the PV industry. An Aurora PVI-4.2-OUTD-S-US Inverter from Power-One was used in the teardown, which IHS iSuppli said provided a path-setting benchmark for cost reduction within a sector of the industry expected to undergo rapid price erosion, inline with other industry sectors such as polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules.
Enecsys announced that it has established a partnership with SMTC, a global electronics manufacturing service provider, which will see the company manufacture its micro inverters for the Canadian market at SMTC’s Markham facility in the York region of Ontario. This partnership will allow for Enecsys to meet and partake in the Ontario Power Authority’s FiT domestic content requirement for renewable energy projects.
Italy-based manufacturer Elettronica Santerno has supplied 20 of its Sunway inverters to China Guodian for a 200MW PV plant in Qinghai province, China.
Upon the reveal of its financial results for the third quarter 2011, Satcon Technology advised that while its US$45 million in revenue was in line with it previously announced guidance, its revenues quarter-over-quarter remained flat when compared to Q2 2011’s US$45.5 million. The company reported that gross margin for the quarter was 12%, up from 8% in Q2, with the incremental improvement attributed to Satcon’s cost reduction programs and the expansion of its 1.25MW Prism Platform solution.
Euro Projects has chosen Emerson as inverter supplier for its two recently-completed installations in Sardinia, Italy. The combined capacity of the two systems, located adjacent to one another in the municipality of Villaperuccio, is 10MW and Emerson will equip both sites with its utility-scale power inverters and management systems.
Enphase hasn’t cornered all of the new wave of solar modules integrated with a microinverter for the US market. PV module manufacturer, SunPower has launched its E18 & E19 AC Solar Panel series using SolarBridge’s ‘Pantheon’ microinverter. The all-black, E18/225 watt AC solar panel and the maximum-efficiency E19/240 watt AC solar panel will be available in the U.S. in early 2012. The AC panels feature SunPower's 22.4% efficient ‘Maxeon’ cell technology.
Other than module mountings nuts and bolts, microinverters and power inverters are one of the smallest components that could be used in a PV system installation. However, the market for these microelectronics-dependent little marvels experienced 500% growth in 2010, according to a recent IMS Research report and they continue to punch above their weight.
Only a few weeks before releasing third-quarter 2011 financial results on October 27, 2011, inverter supplier, Power-One has reduced guidance for the quarter. Power-One expects revenue to be in the range of US$240-US$245 million, down from previous guidance of US$265 million-US$280 million. The company cited weaker than expected demand for lower revenue expectation. Sales in the second-quarter were US$180 million.
