Sungrow, Sineng Electric, and TBEA Energy were the top solar inverter suppliers in the Indian solar market in the first half (1H) of the calendar year (CY) 2021, according to Mercom’s recently released India Solar Market Leaderboard 1H 2021 report.

The report provides insights into the industry leaders’ market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain.

The top three solar inverter suppliers accounted for 56% of the total market share in 1H 2021. The top five suppliers represented 78% of the overall market share in 1H 2021.

String inverters

String inverters, which have made rapid inroads into the Indian solar market in recent years, accounting for 44% of the total shipments in 1H 2021. Huawei, Sungrow, and Solis Inverter, GoodWe, and Growatt were the top five suppliers in this category. The top five suppliers accounted for 76% of the overall market share in 1H 2021.

Central inverters

In 1H 2021, central inverters accounted for 56% of the total shipments. Sineng Electric led the way with 34% of the market share, followed by TBEA Energy, Sungrow, FIMER (formerly ABB), and Delta Electronics India.

Sungrow, Huawei, and Sineng Electric were the top solar inverter suppliers to the Indian solar market in CY 2020.

In August 2021, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy issued a notification extending the self-certification of solar photovoltaic (PV) inverters from June 30, 2021, to December 31, 2021, subject to the condition that the manufacturers have valid International Electrotechnical Commission certificates and test reports from international test labs.

In the Budget 2021, the Finance Minister proposed to raise the customs duty on solar inverters from 5% to 20% to encourage domestic production.

In a webinar hosted by Mercom in June, panelists noted that inverter improvements, including greater granularity of MPPT, use of artificial intelligence with more capable algorithms, are expected to handle the changing demands of the solar industry.