Italian solar inverter manufacturer FIMER has been acquired by a subsidiary of technology and automotive company McLaren Applied Group amid ongoing pressures on the inverter industry.
MA Solar Italy, a subsidiary of McLaren, acquired FIMER for an undisclosed fee. FIMER has been in Extraordinary Administration for the past few months, a process used in Italy to manage the sale of large companies to protect assets and employees.
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“This acquisition provides an important turning point for FIMER, enabling the company to complete its restructuring process, support the plan for the continuity of the business and allow it to expand its activities,” FIMER said in a statement.
“MA Solar Italy Limited was selected due to its robust business plan, which outlines a clear strategy for sustainable growth, development and innovation of FIMER’s core business, ensuring the long-term development of FIMER’s operations and workforce.”
The company added that “synergies” between its and McLaren’s technology are “expected to drive technological advancements, operational efficiency, and further market expansion.”
Western inverter companies have been struggling lately amid adverse market conditions. German inverter giant SMA Solar announced 1,100 job cuts in its Q3 2024 financial results and blamed a “significant market slowdown” in the residential sector. Both Italy and the Netherlands have recently changed their compensation systems for residential solar adoption.
In recent weeks, Israeli inverter producer SolarEdge also announced the departure of its CEO, layoffs for around 12% of its workforce and the shutdown of its energy storage division.
We spoke with Cormac Gilligan, associate director of clean energy technology at S&P Global, about the challenges facing the inverter sector.
Gilligan said that the hangover from Europe’s rapid expansion of distributed solar capacity during the 2022-23 energy crisis following the outbreak of war in Ukraine had led to overcapacity and falling prices as demand dropped off. Simultaneously, changes to residential solar policies across the continent have put greater emphasis on self-consumption and energy storage, which calls for a more sophisticated inverter product. Read our full interview with Gilligan here (premium access).
