Major Events that Impacted the Indian Solar Sector in 2024

SECI Tenders 125 MW/500 MWh Battery Energy Storage System in Kerala

Daily News Wrap-Up: APTEL Upholds Wind Power Firms’ Right to Terminate PPAs

Rajasthan Issues Empanelment Tender for 511 MW of Rooftop Solar Projects

APTEL Upholds Two Andhra Pradesh Wind Power Companies’ Right to Terminate PPAs

UltraTech Cement to Source Wind-Solar Hybrid Power from Clean Max

Daily News Wrap-Up: SECI’s 1,000 MW ISTS Solar Auction Results

Waaree to Set Up 300 MW Electrolyzer and 3.5 GWh Lithium-ion Cell Projects

Funding and M&A Roundup: EV Charging Platform JET Charge Receives $45 Million

Project Finance Brief: Recurrent Energy Secures Financing for 171 MW Solar Project

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					</table><a href="https://www.nlcindia.in/new_website/index.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NLC India</a> has invited bids for the supply of central inverters for a 600 MW solar project in Gujarat State Electricity Corporation’s (<a href="https://www.gsecl.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GSECL</a>) Solar Park in Khavda, Gujarat, on a package basis.
The 600 MW Solar Power Project is intended to be developed by NLC through its wholly-owned subsidiary, NLC India Green Energy, in the GSECL Stage 2 solar park.
The last date to submit the bids is March 22, 2024. Bids will be opened on the same day.
The scope of work includes manufacturing, supply, packing and forwarding, transportation, including transit insurance of the central inverters, and supervision during erection, installation, testing, and commissioning works at the site.
The selected bidder must supply the central inverters within 180 days of receiving the purchase order.
Bidders must submit a bid guarantee of ₹3.28 million (~$39,574). Registered Micro and Small Enterprises are exempted from the bid guarantee. For orders valued at ₹1 million (~$12,065) or above, the selected bidders must also submit a contract performance guarantee equivalent to 10% of the total order value within 60 days of receiving the purchase order. The bank guarantee must be valid for the warranty period plus a claim period of three months thereafter.
The tender provides a purchase preference to local suppliers.
Bidders should have manufactured and supplied central inverts of 1.1 MW or higher capacity to a cumulative capacity of 150 MW through one or more orders for solar projects to government, quasi-government, public sector undertakings, public limited companies, or private limited companies in the last seven years.
The supplied central inverters must be successfully operating for at least one year from the date of commissioning.
Bidders must have a positive net worth as per the latest audited financial statements. Their average annual turnover must not be less than ₹197 million (~$2.38 million) for the last three consecutive financial years.
In January, NLC India <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/nlc-india-393-mwp-solar-modules" target="_blank" rel="noopener">invited</a> bids to procure 393.9 MW of solar modules for the GSECL solar park in Khavda, Gujarat.
Subscribe to Mercom’s <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/product/india-solar-tender-tracker" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Tender Tracker</a> to stay on top of the real-time tender activity.

NLC India Invites Bids to Supply Central Inverters for 600 MW Solar Project

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					</table><a href="https://en.sungrowpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sungrow Power Supply</a>, <a href="https://en.si-neng.com/">Sineng Electric</a>, <a href="https://www.ginverter.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAr8eqBhD3ARIsAIe-buPEA4Nbi-RpySfgTF0v1I4Y_ySbTPEAiqGntDwgqHncXyEpbLap2X8aAvZ5EALw_wcB" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Growatt New Energy</a>, <a href="https://www.ginlong.com/global" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ginlong (Solis) Technologies</a>, and <a href="https://www.goodwe.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoodWe</a> emerged as the leading solar inverter suppliers in India in the first half (1H) of 2023, according to Mercom&#8217;s recently released <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-leaderboard-1h-2023-market-shares-profiles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 1H 2023.</a>
The Market Leaderboard provides insights into the industry leaders&#8217; market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain.
For 1H 2023, the report captured notable shifts in market share rankings, with three new players making it to the top ten list.
Sungrow was the top solar inverter supplier, accounting for 35% of the market share. It was followed by Sineng Electric and Growatt New Energy with 22% and 7%, respectively. Ginlog (Solis) Technologies and GoodWe rounded off the top five with 5% each.
The top two inverter suppliers remain unchanged from 2022 to 2023 as the demand for their inverters in the Indian solar market continues to be strong.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-60372 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture1-1.png" alt="" width="562" height="380" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture1-1.png 562w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture1-1-300x203.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 562px) 100vw, 562px" />
Sungrow, the top supplier to India in 1H 2023, has reached a cumulative supply of 19.2 GW at the end of June 2023.
Second on the list, Sineng Electric has three manufacturing facilities in Wuxi, China, Wuzhong, China, and Bangalore, India, with a 40 GW annual production capacity.
Third on the list was Growatt New Energy, which has moved up from sixth to third position in 1H 2023.
The fourth spot went to Ginlong (Solis) Technologies, retaining its position in 1H 2023.
String Inverters
Sungrow, Growatt New Energy, GoodWe, Ginlong Solis, and <a href="https://www2.sofarsolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SOFAR</a> were the top solar string inverter suppliers, accounting for 69% of the market share.
Sungrow led with 22% of the total shipments, followed by Growatt, which accounted for 15%.
GoodWe, Ginlong (Solis), and SOFAR rounded off the top five with 12%, 11%, and 9%, respectively.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-60373 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture2.png" alt="" width="602" height="357" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture2.png 602w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture2-300x178.png 300w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture2-600x356.png 600w" sizes="(max-width: 602px) 100vw, 602px" />
Central Inverters
Central inverter supplies surpassed string inverters for the first time in two years in 1H 2023, accounting for approximately 56% of the total shipments during the period. Due to performance and supply issues, developers favored central inverters over string inverters in the first half of the year.
Sungrow, Sineng Electric, <a href="https://www.fimer.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FIMER India</a>, Ginlong (Solis), and <a href="https://www.hitachi-hirel.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hitachi Hi-Rel</a> were the top solar central inverter suppliers for 1H 2023.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-60374 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture3.png" alt="" width="521" height="345" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture3.png 521w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Picture3-300x199.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 521px) 100vw, 521px" />
Sungrow and Sineng Electric accounted for 45% and 34% of the market share, respectively, followed closely by FIMER with 18%. Ginlong (Solis) Technologies and Hitachi Hi-Rel each accounted for 1% of central inverter shipments in 1H 2023.
Mercom&#8217;s Market Leaderboard report, published twice a year, covers the market landscape across the entire supply chain. For the detailed and comprehensive report, click <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-leaderboard-1h-2023-market-shares-profiles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.
Our <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-share-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Market Share Tracker</a> also gives insights into the solar market competitors and their growth rates quarterly.

Sungrow, Sineng, Growatt, Solis Top Solar Inverter Suppliers in 1H 2023

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					</table><a href="https://en.sungrowpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sungrow</a>, <a href="https://en.si-neng.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sineng Electric</a>, <a href="https://www.fimer.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FIMER India (ABB)</a>, <a href="https://www.ginlong.com/global" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ginlong (Solis) Technologies</a>, and <a href="https://www.sofarsolar.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SOFAR</a> emerged as the leading solar inverter suppliers in India in the calendar year (CY) 2022, according to Mercom&#8217;s recently released <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2023-market-shares-and-profiles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2023</a>.
The report provides insights into the industry leaders&#8217; market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain. The report captured notable shifts in market share rankings, with three new players making it to the top ten list. SOFAR, <a href="https://www.deyeinverter.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NingBo Deye Inverter Technology</a>, and <a href="https://www.fox-ess.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fox ESS</a> were the new entrants in the top ten list.
Sungrow was the top solar inverter supplier in CY 2022, accounting for 29% of the market share. It was followed closely by Sineng Electric and FIMER India (ABB) with 20% and 17%, respectively. Ginlog (Solis) Technologies and SOFAR rounded off the top five with 9% and 6%, respectively.
The top four inverter suppliers remain unchanged from 2021 to 2022 as the demand for their inverters in the Indian solar market continues to be strong.
<a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_20_529Z.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-54734 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_20_529Z.png" alt="Top Solar Inverter Suppliers 2022" width="527" height="351" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_20_529Z.png 527w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_20_529Z-300x200.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 527px) 100vw, 527px" /></a>
Among the top four, FIMER India&#8217;s shipments increased 117.3%, while Sungrow, Sineng Electric, and Ginglong (Solis) Technologies shipments were down 26.6%, 33.9%, and 5.7% compared to 2021.
Sungrow Power Supply (Sungrow), the top supplier to India in 2022, has an installed capacity of over 340 GW globally as of December 2022. Sungrow <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/daily-news-wrap-up-sungrow-10-gw-solar-inverter-manufacturing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has</a> a 10 GW manufacturing facility in New Delhi and a 3 GW facility in Bangalore.
Second on the list, Sineng Electric has three manufacturing facilities in Wuxi, China, Wuzhong, China, and Bangalore, India, reaching 30 GW annual production capacity.
Third on the list is FIMER India (ABB) has been operating in India since 2010. Its factory in Bangalore has an annual production of more than 5 GW with the latest infrastructure as well as testing facilities.
In April last year, FIMER supplied its 1 MVA inverters to Mahindra Susten for the battery energy storage system (BESS) project and successfully executed the integrated solar energy project at Sun Temple Town of Modhera, District Mehsana, Gujarat.
Next on the list is Ginlong (Solis) Technologies. During 2022, Solis supplied its 255 kW three-phase string inverter to NTPC&#8217;s 30 MW Rihand solar project in Uttar Pradesh. During the second half of 2022, the company released its sixth-generation energy storage inverters for European markets.
Rounding off the top five is SOFAR.
String Inverters
String inverters supply surpassed central inverters, accounting for approximately 53% of the total shipments in CY 2022 for the second consecutive year.
Sungrow, Ginlong Solis, SOFAR, <a href="https://www.ginverter.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Growatt</a>, and <a href="https://en.goodwe.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoodWe</a> were the top solar string inverter suppliers, accounting for 74% of the market share.
Sungrow led the market share with 30% of the total shipments, followed by Solis, which accounted for 16%.
SOFARSOLAR, Growatt, and GoodWe rounded off the top five with 11%, 9%, and 8%, respectively.
<a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_51_031Z.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-54735 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_51_031Z.png" alt="Top Solar String Inverter Suppliers 2022" width="562" height="335" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_51_031Z.png 562w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_57_51_031Z-300x179.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 562px) 100vw, 562px" /></a>
Central Inverters
FIMER India (ABB), Sineng Electric, Sungrow, and <a href="https://www.tmeic.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TMEIC</a> were the top solar central inverter suppliers for 2022.
<a href="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_58_15_532Z.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-54736 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_58_15_532Z.png" alt="Top Solar Central Inverter Suppliers 2022" width="556" height="342" srcset="https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_58_15_532Z.png 556w, https://mercomindia.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image_2023_05_31T07_58_15_532Z-300x185.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 556px) 100vw, 556px" /></a>
FIMER India (ABB) and Sineng Electric accounted for 34% of the market share each, followed closely by Sungrow with 28% and TMEIC India with 4%.
The report covers the market landscape across the entire supply chain. For the detailed and comprehensive report, click <a href="https://www.mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2023-market-shares-and-profiles" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>. Also, our <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-share-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Market Share Tracker</a> gives insights into the solar market competitors and their growth rates on a quarterly basis.

Leading Solar Inverter Suppliers in 2022: Sungrow, Sineng, FIMER, Solis

<a href="https://en.sungrowpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sungrow</a>, <a href="https://www.huawei.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Huawei</a>, and <a href="https://en.si-neng.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sineng Electric </a>were the top solar inverter suppliers to the Indian solar market in the calendar year (CY) 2020, according to Mercom’s recently released report <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercom-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2021-market-shares-profiles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2021</a>.
Mercom’s latest report provides insight into the industry leaders’ market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain.
The top three companies accounted for 56% of the total market share in CY 2020. The top five solar inverter suppliers accounted for almost 80% of the total inverter supplies to the country in 2020.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Inverters.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-26224 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Inverters.png" alt="Inverters" width="390" height="254" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Inverters.png 390w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Inverters-300x195.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 390px) 100vw, 390px" /></a>
String Inverters
String inverters have made rapid inroads into the Indian solar market over the past two years. In the string inverters category, Huawei led the way with 37% of the market share, followed closely by Sungrow and Growatt with 19% and 13%, respectively. Other names in the list included Goodwe and Solis.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/String-Inverters.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-26225 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/String-Inverters.png" alt="String Inverters" width="395" height="264" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/String-Inverters.png 395w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/String-Inverters-300x201.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px" /></a>
Central Inverters
Central inverters accounted for about 51% of the total shipments. Sungrow, Sineng Electric, and FIMER India (formerly ABB) were the top suppliers with 29%, 26%, and 20%, respectively. Kehua Tech and TMEIC were the other leading suppliers on the list.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Central-Inverters.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone wp-image-26228 size-full" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Central-Inverters.png" alt="Central Inverters" width="410" height="282" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Central-Inverters.png 410w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Central-Inverters-300x206.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 410px) 100vw, 410px" /></a>
Sungrow, FIMER, and Sineng Electric <a href="https://mercomindia.com/sungrow-fimer-sineng-major-solar-inverter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were</a> the top inverter suppliers in the first half (1H) of CY 2020.
In the Budget 2021, the Finance Minister proposed to <a href="https://mercomindia.com/budget-2021-%e2%82%b910-billion-seci/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">raise</a> the customs duty on solar inverters from 5% to 20% to encourage domestic production. The government believes that by hiking the duties and increasing the cost of imports, manufacturers will be incentivized to manufacture in India. Recognizing the growing demand for inverters, Chinese manufacturers, including <a href="https://mercomindia.com/sungrow-3-gw-solar-inverter-manufacturing-unit-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sungrow</a>, and <a href="https://mercomindia.com/chinas-tbea-launch-2-gw-inverter-factory-bengaluru/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TBEA</a> have already opened manufacturing units in India.
In December last year, Mercom <a href="https://mercomindia.com/developers-prefer-string-inverters-mercom-webinar/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hosted</a> a webinar to discuss how solar inverter technologies impact project performance. The webinar shed light on the technological trends pushing the market and how Indian developers decide which inverters would be used for their projects. Although inverters account for 5% of the total project cost, their impact on project performance, stability, and the levelized cost of energy is substantial, making quality and technology the prime movers. Developers who participated in the webinar commented that bifacial modules with string inverters are the future trend.
A complete list of the inverter suppliers and their market share is available through Mercom’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-share-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Share Tracker</a>.

Sungrow, Huawei, and Sineng Electric: Top Solar Inverter Suppliers to India in CY 2020

In the calendar year (CY) 2019, <a href="https://www.huawei.com/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Huawei</a>, emerged as the lead supplier of inverters to the Indian solar market overall, followed by <a href="https://www.sungrowpower.com/en/home" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sungrow</a> and TBEA Energy. ABB and TMEIC rounded off the top five.
These market leaders were revealed in Mercom’s recently released report: <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercom-india-solar-market-leaderboard-2020-market-shares-profiles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2020</a>. The report gives insight into the industry’s leaders as well as their market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain.
The top five suppliers of inverters accounted for approximately 65% of total market share.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-19197" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png" alt="Leading Solar Inverters Suppliers in India 2019 (CY)" width="375" height="273" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png 375w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY-300x218.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px" /></a>
Central inverters continued to be the choice of large-scale solar projects because of lower costs and developers, considering it a proven technology. Still, string inverters are making inroads in the market among consumers because of their flexibility in terms of size and usage. In terms of yearly shipments, string inverters are gaining market share quickly over central inverters.
In Jan 2020, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (<a href="http://mnre.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">MNRE</a>) <a href="https://mercomindia.com/new-deadline-bis-certification-solar-inverters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extended</a> the deadline for the self-certification of solar inverters by six months from December 31, 2019 to June 30, 2020, considering the unavailability of labs, lack of testing facilities, and workforce. This has come as a huge relief to inverter suppliers. But on the heels of this announcement, the Ministry has <a href="https://mercomindia.com/mnre-prepares-blueprint-streamlining-technical-specifications-solar-inverters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">issued</a> draft guidelines for standards regarding the technical specifications for solar grid-tied inverters. The Ministry said that the purpose of the standards is to lay down the requirements for the interconnection of photovoltaic systems and inverters to the utility distribution system.
String Inverters
In CY 2019, Huawei was the leading string inverter supplier, followed by <a href="https://www.ginverter.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Growatt</a> and Sungrow. GoodWe and Solis rounded off the top five for the CY 2019. The top five accounted for 76% of shipments to the Indian market.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-19196" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png" alt="Leading Solar String Inverters Suppliers in India 2019 (CY)" width="391" height="269" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png 391w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY-300x206.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 391px) 100vw, 391px" /></a>
Central Inverters  
In the central inverter segment, TMEIC was the top supplier, followed by Sungrow. ABB (acquired by FIMER), TBEA, and Sineng Electric rounded off the top five.
The top three players accounted for nearly 50% of shipments to the Indian market.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-19195" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png" alt="Leading Solar Central Inverters Suppliers in India 2019 (CY)" width="395" height="282" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY.png 395w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-2019-CY-300x214.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 395px) 100vw, 395px" /></a>
In the first half of 2019, Mercom <a href="https://mercomindia.com/tmeic-sungrow-solar-inverter-supplier-1h-2019/">reported</a> TMEIC emerged as the top supplier of solar inverters to the Indian market with a market share of approximately 20% while Sungrow came in second with a market share of about 16%, followed by ABB at 15%. Huawei and TBEA Energy rounded off the top five spots in this segment. The top three suppliers accounted for nearly 3 GW of solar inverter shipments to the Indian market. Together, the top five companies accounted for nearly 73% of the total market share in that period.
So far, TBEA, Sungrow, TMEIC, and Sineng Electric have established manufacturing facilities in India.
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Image credit: Sungrow

Huawei, Sungrow, and TBEA Were the Leading Solar Inverter Suppliers to India in CY 2019

In the first half of 2019 (1H 2019), TMEIC emerged as the top supplier of solar inverters to the Indian market with a market share of approximately 20% while <a href="https://www.sungrowpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sungrow</a> came in second with a market share of about 16%, followed by ABB at 15%, according to Mercom’s <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercom-india-solar-market-leaderboard-1h-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">India Solar Market Leaderboard 1H 2019</a> report.
Huawei and TBEA Energy rounded off the top five spots in this segment. The top three suppliers accounted for nearly 3 GW of solar inverter shipments to the Indian market. Together, the top five companies accounted for nearly 73% of the total market share.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17119" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png" alt="Leading Solar Inverters Suppliers in India, 1H 2019" width="359" height="276" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png 359w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019-300x231.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 359px) 100vw, 359px" /></a>
Large-scale solar projects have been using central inverters because of lower costs, maturity and reliability of the technology. However, the share of string inverter supply has been increasing across the country as they are more flexible in terms of size and usage. With approximately 20% of solar installation growth forecasted next year in India, most of the inverter suppliers are expected to fare much better in 2020.
String Inverters
In 1H 2019, Huawei was the leading supplier of string inverters with a market share of 38% followed by Sungrow with a market share of 10%. <a href="https://www.ginverter.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Growatt</a> came in third, followed by <a href="http://www.ginlong.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Solis</a> and ABB, which rounded off the Top 5 list for the first half of 2019.
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17120" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png" alt="Leading Solar String Inverters Suppliers in India, 1H 2019" width="358" height="266" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png 358w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-String-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019-300x223.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 358px) 100vw, 358px" /></a>
Central Inverters
Among central inverter suppliers, TMEIC led with a market share of 29%, followed by Sungrow with 19%, and ABB with 18%. TBEA and Sineng Electric rounded off the top five solar central inverter suppliers’ list for the first half of 2019 (1H 2019).
<a href="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-17121" src="https://mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png" alt="Leading Solar Central Inverters Suppliers in India, 1H 2019" width="358" height="269" srcset="https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019.png 358w, https://cms.mercomindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Leading-Solar-Central-Inverters-Suppliers-in-India-1H-2019-300x225.png 300w" sizes="(max-width: 358px) 100vw, 358px" /></a>
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<a href="https://mercomindia.com/abb-sungrow-huawei-top-solar-inverter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Last year</a>, ABB was the leader in this segment with a market share of 24%, followed by Sungrow with 16%, and Huawei with 12%.  ABB, Sungrow, TMEIC, TBEA, and Sineng Electric were the top five central inverter suppliers accounting for a combined <a href="https://mercomindia.com/abb-sungrow-huawei-top-solar-inverter/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">83%</a> of total central inverters supplied in 2018.
TBEA Xi’an Electric Technology Co., an affiliate of the TBEA Group, recently <a href="https://mercomindia.com/chinas-tbea-launch-2-gw-inverter-factory-bengaluru/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">announced</a> the opening of its 2 GW solar inverter factory in Bengaluru. The manufacturing unit located at Bidadi will support customers with high-quality PV inverter production and manufacturing, service and maintenance, and after-sales transit storage.
The central government’s guidelines on upholding the quality standards of solar inverters have seen multiple extensions so far. The industry says needs more time is needed to adjust and implement the guidelines on the ground. In October 2019, the MNRE once again <a href="https://mercomindia.com/bis-certification-solar-inverters-deadline-extension/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">extended the deadline</a> for self-certification of solar inverters through the Bureau of Indian Standards.
Mercom’s India <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercom-india-solar-market-leaderboard-1h-2019/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">1H 2019 Solar Market Leaderboard Report</a> gives a detailed landscape of the solar supply chain, their growth rates, and shipments.
A complete list of solar inverter suppliers and their market share in India is available here: <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-share-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mercom’s India Solar Market Share Tracker</a>.
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Image credit: Sungrow

TMEIC and Sungrow Led the Solar Inverter Supplier Leaderboard in 1H 2019

German conglomerate <a href="https://new.siemens.com/in/en.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Siemens</a> has announced the acquisition of the string inverter business of the <a href="https://www.kaco.de/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KACO new energy GmbH</a>, a manufacturer of energy-related power electronics, for an undisclosed sum. The project development and EPC activities are not part of the acquisition. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2019, subject to regulatory approval.
KACO new energy&#8217;s product line covers inverters designed for residential, commercial and industrial segments and also megawatt-scale solar parks. It focuses on string inverters for solar and storage applications, up to 1500V and using the latest semiconductors. The company has its business spread across nine countries across the globe.
&#8220;With this acquisition, Siemens gains access to the latest technology, while KACO new energy will benefit from the resources required to scale up. Together, we will be able to apply the technology in exciting growth segments&#8221;, explains Cedrik Neike, Managing Board Member of Siemens AG.
Jean-Christoph Heyne, Head of Siemens&#8217; new Future Grids business, adds: &#8220;Siemens is in a strong position to succeed in technology that supports the energy and mobility transition. The acquisition of KACO new energy enhances our portfolio in attractive growth segments at the grid edge. Our new Smart Infrastructure Operating Company comes into operation on April 1, 2019, where our strengths in electrification and buildings will enable us to thrive in the market and continue to expand in the areas of decentral energy, renewables, storage and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.&#8221;
With the growth of distributed energy, renewable energy sources and e-mobility are playing an increasingly important role in the energy value chain, requiring increasing intelligence via an open and flexible ecosystem of technology, solutions, and services. Siemens expects that with the complementary power electronics portfolio of KACO new energy, it can strengthen its technological leadership in the fields of decentralized energy systems and provide corresponding benefits to customers.
In <a href="https://mercomindia.com/siemens-generation-solar-inverters-india/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">December 2017</a>, Siemens launched Sinacon PV a new generation of photovoltaic (PV) central inverters with an output up to 5,000 kVA. The manufacturing is at Siemens’ Kalwa plant near Mumbai for the domestic market as well as for export.
According to <a href="https://mercomcapital.com/research/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom Research</a>, in January 2019, KACO new energy GmbH announced that it had entered into an agreement with South Korean chemical and renewable energy group OCI for the sale of its South Korean subsidiary.
Image credit: KACO

Siemens Acquires KACO New Energy’s Solar String Inverter Business

For solar project developers in the country, the decision to choose one inverter over the other is becoming increasingly difficult, given the rapid expansion of the segment, and numerous entrants struggling to make a mark.
In India, there are over 30 inverter suppliers meeting the demands of the rapidly-growing solar market. In 2017, the top ten solar inverter suppliers accounted for over 85 percent of all systems according to the <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-share-tracker/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mercom India Solar Share Tracker</a>. The market share for string inverters is still miniscule in comparison to central inverters, which enjoys approximately 90 percent of the market share. Mercom’s recently released <a href="https://mercomindia.com/product/mercoms-india-solar-market-share-report/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">India Solar Market Leaderboard 2018</a> report covered the top inverter suppliers for 2017. <a href="http://new.abb.com/">ABB</a> leads the solar inverter market in India with a 19 percent market share followed by Sungrow with 16 percent and Huawei with 13 percent.
Given the rapid pace of development in this niche sector, Mercom decided to talk to the frontrunners of the inverters’ market to understand their challenges, struggles, and the overall outlook of the industry.
Inverter suppliers in the country have been sharing the burden of the ongoing uncertainties in the market with the rest of the domestic renewable industry. In a conversation with Mercom, Sunil Badesra, the India business head at <a href="https://en.sungrowpower.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sungrow</a>, echoed these sentiments of the industry on the current market ambiguities and emphasized the need to innovate in order to take this sector to the next level.
Here are the edited excerpts from the interview:
What are some of the challenges facing inverter suppliers?
 The major challenge which the solar industry and inverter suppliers have faced in last one year is the uncertainty in the mind of developers and EPCs. This is due to confusion in tax and duty ambiguities, which has impacted the solar market and resulted in delay of tenders and orders from customers.
How has rupee depreciation affected inverter vendors? Are suppliers absorbing the costs or can you pass it on to developers?
 The pressure to lower down inverter prices is always there from the developer and EPC side. However, as an inverter supplier, it is very difficult to say whether this pressure is due to lower tariffs and increased competition or due to the ongoing rupee depreciation.
How much price pressure are you seeing due to aggressive bidding by solar developers? How can inverter suppliers cut costs moving forward? 
 There is no doubt that the continuous drop in tariff is putting a lot of pressure on inverter suppliers. However, at the same time when solar developers select components for their projects, they also need to understand that taking inverters at lower price is not a solution to execute any project with lower tariffs. The customers need to find solutions which can optimize the cost of their project by giving them some savings through overall finances.
Initially, the projects used to get executed at 600 V, later markets moved to 1,000 V and currently at 1,500 V. Similarly, there was a time when customers were making 1 MW block size project, which gradually moved to 4-5 MW and now with Sungrow inverters, 12.5 MW block size has also been made possible.
 When it comes to string vs central inverters, which way is the market going?
 For utility projects where the land is flat, we see that customers are exploring only central inverters. For rooftop or small utility projects with uneven land, customers are exploring string inverters and this makes sense also due to multi Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT). String inverters also have high Capex/O&amp;M costs and in addition monitoring challenges, making central inverters the best possible solution for utility scale projects.
 Everyone says energy storage solutions will be a game changer in India’s solar story? When do you think it will happen?
 Our data shows that the storage market in India is still going to take more time as battery prices are still not in line with the market expectations to make these projects feasible.
Where do you see growth opportunity for inverter suppliers beyond solar?
 In the recent past, we have seen notifications from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) on some big GW level floating and storage tenders and as Sungrow is already in this segment on a large scale in China, we would like to explore this opportunity in the future as well.
What are some of the positive developments for inverter suppliers lately?
 The ongoing, continuous drop in tariff in India is leading to new developments in the inverter segment and this has been possible with inverter suppliers like Sungrow who has a strong research and development (R&amp;D) setup and capability to bring new innovative products in line with the market requirement.
Sungrow has started offering a wide range of solar inverters in India starting from 10 kW to 80 kW that covers residential, commercial rooftop applications and also expands this range from 80 kW to 3.125 MW for utility scale projects. Considering the Indian market potential and growth, Sungrow is establishing a local manufacturing and R&amp;D setup here in India to design and develop products to meet Indian requirements.

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