No bankability issues for major Chinese inverter firms

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Source: Huawei.

The ease of due diligence on inverters and increased technical awareness among the investor community has helped ease bankability issues surrounding Chinese inverters in recent years.

That is the view of several European developers that have taken to using inverters from major Chinese manufacturers for large-scale projects.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Speaking to PV Tech, Baywa r.e.’s Tine Weiss, head of purchasing, said due diligence was much harder to perform on modules than inverters.

“It's harder on the module side, testing PID for example and defining something where there are no standards and no definitions set out in standards. On the inverter side, they need to fulfil the local grid requirements and that's it. It's quite easy on inverter side,” said Weiss.

Huawei, Sungrow, Sineng, TMEIC and TBEA have led a surge of Asian inverter manufacturers globally and in Europe in particular. Market research firms have consistently estimated that around half the top ten suppliers are Asian based firms. With the US market’s mid-term future secured by the extension of the investment tax credit, it is expected to become an increasingly important territory for Chinese inverter manufacturers.

GTM placed all five of the above in the top ten inverter firms by shipments for 2015 in research published in March 2016. Speaking at the time of the release of the report, GTM Research analyst Scott Moskowitz said: “Huawei has upended the notion that string inverters would be used in place of central inverters in small and progressively larger utility projects. The company has committed to a fully string inverter portfolio, employing their devices in some of the largest solar power plants in the world.”

With developers increasingly looking to secure the O&M contracts for the projects they build, the choice of inverter and the support that backs it up becomes an even more important decision.

“We try to do the O&M as an additional value to the customer,” said Stefan Horn, MD for the APAC region at Greencells. “When we make an offer of sale, we want to have the O&M [contract], we want it for at least two years ideally we want to have it for five years.

“One of the reasons we are given higher performance ratio warranties or guarantees is because we work with a company like Huawei which can measure down to on string level performance, so our responsiveness is better. The closer the understanding, the better [the performance] is,” he added.

10 March 2026
Frankfurt, Germany
The conference will gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing out to 2030 and beyond.

Read Next

August 6, 2025
A subsidiary of JinkoSolar has filed a lawsuit in Munich accusing LONGi Green Energy and several subsidiaries of infringing on a solar cell manufacturing patent.
August 5, 2025
China’s leading polysilicon firms are reportedly considering shutting down one third of the country’s polysilicon capacity and restructuring the sector, following years of overcapacity and tumbling prices.
Sponsored
August 4, 2025
Risen Energy’s Bob Hao discusses the company’s latest range of integrated energy solutions and recent developments in HJT module technology.
August 4, 2025
During H1 2025, China has added 211.61GW of new PV capacity, more than doubling last year's figures when installs reached 102.5GW in H1 2024.
Premium
August 1, 2025
Utility-scale solar is preparing for its next voltage evolution, with 2,000V systems emerging as the successor to the 1,500V standard.
August 1, 2025
The Q3 edition of our downstream solar PV journal, PV Tech Power, is now available to download.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico
Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK