Growth, Market Share and Dynamic Change in The PV Inverter Industry

The PV inverter market, once short of innovation, has seen a surge of investment in the last few years. Spurred by startup advances, established firms like SMA, Satcon, and National Semiconductor are developing new distributed PV electronics technologies in-house or through acquisition. This Special Report from Greentech Media, sponsored by Enphase Energy, takes a look at the state of innovation in the inverter market, VC investment activity, and the emerging leaders in the $2.4 billion PV inverter market.

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As the price of PV falls, the technology will become more competitively priced in Europe and the U.S. before its prices are competitive in China.

CPV: New Applications and Emerging Markets
November 16, 2009

Hot Startup »

Solar Startup Solasta Seeks Next Round

The solar firm was founded in 2006 with A round funding from Kleiner Perkins and claims its process could increase the efficiency of conventional amorphous silicon PV by up to 150 percent.

Technology

SunPower Buys Australian Distributor

The solar manufacturer continues to buy up integrators around the world, claiming that being involved in multiple parts of the supply chain can help it cut costs.

Solar
Jennifer Kho July 25, 2008
Funding Roundup: Investors Keep Betting on Solar

Solar startups continue to raise good money for technology development and market expansion. Water purification, thermal cooling and ethanol companies also receive cash.

Solar
Ucilia Wang July 20, 2008
NREL Confirms Miasolé's Solar Panel Efficiency

The company's panels convert more than 10 percent of the sunlight that hits them into electricity.

Solar
Rachel Barron July 16, 2008
Wakonda, Nuventix Raise Millions

A solar-cell developer and a thermal-cooling startup received money from Advanced Technology Ventures and other investors.

Solar
Ucilia Wang July 16, 2008
Fat Spaniel Launches Open Platform

The company has developed an open platform that will enable other companies to create applications based on its data.

Solar
Jennifer Kho July 15, 2008
Sencera Sees Need for Solar Speed

The North Carolina-based startup, which raised $3.6 million earlier this year and is seeking $35 million more, thinks its speedy deposition process for transistors and integrated circuits can deliver thin-film solar at less than $1 per watt.

Solar
Jeff St. John July 11, 2008
Dyeing for More Solar Power

A team of MIT researchers is starting a new company, Covalent Solar, to develop technology that can potentially increase solar-panel efficiencies by 50 percent using organic dyes.

Solar
Rachel Barron July 10, 2008
Funding Roundup: Slow IPOs, Big Ambitions

Lux Research predicts that thin-film solar will bring $19.7 billion in annual sales by 2012. Meanwhile, investors fund water desalination, wave energy, fuel cells and flywheels.

Solar
Ucilia Wang July 6, 2008
Who Will Be the Next Big Company to Go Solar?

Semiconductor and computer industries are joining the push into solar with other large companies, while analysts are pondering which conglomerates will be next.

Solar
Jennifer Kho July 2, 2008
National Semi Casts SolarMagic

The company, the latest chip business entering the solar market, says its chipset can improve each solar panel's energy output.

Solar
Ucilia Wang June 30, 2008
Funding Roundup: Evergreen Solar Needs $325M

Many public companies have yet to make enough money to expand without borrowing money or selling shares.

Solar
Ucilia Wang June 29, 2008
Iluxon Wins Prize for Solar Water Purifier

The company, based in Mexico, won first place in a green design challenge at the Freescale Technology Forum for a device that uses the sun's heat to distill water.

Solar
Michael Kanellos June 22, 2008
Nanosolar Creates Largest Thin-Film Tool

The company says that its coater can produce up to1 gigawatt of solar cells each year, potentially cutting manufacturing costs by two orders of magnitude.

Solar
Jennifer Kho June 18, 2008
Chip Giants Delve Deeper Into Solar

Intel spins off SpectraWatt, joining other semiconductor companies, such as Applied Materials and IBM, which are making plays in the field. Should the rest of the solar industry be worried?

Solar
Rachel Barron June 17, 2008
Companies Crowd Into CIGS Space

IBM is the latest to move into the thin-film solar technology. But as the industry watches closely for a hint as to who might give First Solar a run for its money, it's still anyone's race.

Solar
Jennifer Kho June 16, 2008
Sinosol Does IPO, Germany Boosts Solar Investments

On the first day of Intersolar in Munich, a two-year-old company begins selling its shares to raise $122.9 million.

Solar
Ucilia Wang June 12, 2008
Oerlikon Solar Sues Sunfilm

Oerlikon, a Swiss maker of thin-film solar production equipment, says Sunfilm is violating its patent for making tandem junction solar panels.

Solar
Ucilia Wang June 11, 2008
Global Solar Strings Thin-Film Market Together

The Tucson, Ariz.-based company will sell solar cells that can turn traditional silicon-based panel makers, into thin-film panel makers.

Solar
Rachel Barron June 10, 2008
Enphase Energy Seeks New Converts

The startup has begun to peddle its offerings of micro-inverters and a service for monitoring and managing solar arrays.

Solar
Ucilia Wang June 9, 2008
Boobs, Not Bulbs

Japanese lingerie company Triumph International makes a solar-powered bra, but for anyone but exhibitionists, it will never see the light of day.

Solar
Marisa Taylor June 4, 2008