One of the world’s leading solar inverter manufacturer – SMA Solar – has announced that it managed to secure a 26% market share in the Indian solar power market last year.
In a press release issued recently the company claims that it shipped 1 gigawatts solar inverters to the Asian country in 2016. The shipments in 2016 doubled from those during the preceding year. With around 4 gigawatts of solar power capacity installed in India last year.
“SMA has nearly doubled its total installed inverter base in India in 2016 alone. Among other projects, our central inverters have been used to build the largest solar power plant in India to date,” said John Susa, SMA Executive Vice President Sales Asia Pacific.
“This is a great success, as the Indian market is of strategic importance for SMA. With a market share of 26% in 2016, we are strongly positioned in this growth market. Our dedicated local sales and service team will continue to support our long-term Indian partners, leading developers and EPCs, with our high-quality product solutions and first-class services. There are significant performance and financial benefits to our customers in using SMA inverters in their large-scale PV power plants.”
The company also reported that its inverters will be used at the country’s largest solar power project, perhaps referring to the 500 megawatts projects being developed by Greenko Energy Holdings; the project was earlier secured by SunEdison through competitive auction. The project would be second-largest solar power project to be commissioned at a single site and by a single developer in India.
In December last year, Greenko Energy Holdings placed an order with SMA Solar for procurement of 616 megawatts of solar inverters. The inverters – Sunny Central 1000CP XT – will be supplied for projects located in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
SMA Solar’s main competitor ABB India commanded 50% market share at the end of 2015. ABB India had supplied inverters to 2 gigawatts of the 4 gigawatts solar power capacity operational at the end of 2015.