Feed-in tariff cuts affect global inverter shipments in 2011

A new report from research firm IHS has found that success in the global inverter market dipped slightly in 2011 due to feed-in tariff cuts in several leading solar markets. The PV Inverters: Surviving the Storm report states that despite long-term growth prospects, shipments of PV inverters last year fell to the equivalent of 23.4GW, down 1 percent from 23.6GW in 2010.

IHS’s research also found that along with a dip in inverter shipments; last year saw a 15 percent drop in revenue, down to ~£3.3 billion. This was reportedly due to a sharp decline in average selling prices.

However, despite this slight downturn, IHS says that inverter shipments are expected to take a positive turn in 2012, 2013 and 2014 while revenue decline will ease to just 3 percent, after which growth is expected to return and then climb to the 20 percent range by 2014 as demand from new markets begins to make an impact.