Inverter racing track:HuaWei to the left and Sungrow to the right
Since the beginning of this year, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and the impact of extreme heat, the problem of "power shortage" around the world is getting worse.
More than a billion people in Japan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other Asian countries, as well as energy-stricken Europe, are suffering from intermittent power outages since summer began in the northern hemisphere, with little relief in sight.
Under the heavy external pressure, Europe is reviving some of its previously shuttered coal-fired power plants in an effort to overcome the energy crisis, while accelerating the"new energy" process. Among them, as the focus of the care of the photovoltaic industry, is expected to usher in unprecedented historic opportunities.
Under the influence of many internal and external factors, inverter, as an application field to assist electric energy conversion, has naturally entered the golden stage of explosion in the face of photovoltaic + energy storage two high-growth demand scenarios.
From the demand side, the rapid growth of photovoltaic demand and energy storage drives the rapid growth of inverter product output. According to the data of the Ministry of Energy, by the end of 2021, the domestic grid-connected photovoltaic power generation capacity reached 306 million kW, ranking first in the world for seven consecutive years;
Only in 2021, China's newly installed photovoltaic capacity reached 54.9GW, among which the distributed newly installed capacity is growing, accounting for more than 50% for the first time in 2021, and the installed capacity is 29.3GW. The level of photovoltaic consumption in Xinjiang, Tibet and other places has been significantly improved.
As a key component of power station income and power quality, inverter plays a very important role in the whole photoelectric conversion. Especially with the advent of the "parity era" of photovoltaic power generation, technological progress and scale effect of photovoltaic modules, inverters and other links are increasingly emerging.
At present, various technical types of inverters, including centralized type, cluster type, micro type and distributed type, are showing a rapid growth trend.
Among them, as of 2021, the market share of the domestic cluster inverter has reached 70%, has become the mainstream of the industry, its compound growth rate in the past four years has exceeded 25%, showing a strong growth momentum.
In addition, with the increase in the proportion of photovoltaic and wind power generation, the status of energy storage has become more and more important. The demand for the inverter market for energy storage markets has gradually increased, and it has gradually become the second curve to promote the growth of the inverter industry.
From the perspective of the supply side, with the continuous iteration of domestic inverter enterprises in terms of products, the domesticization level of inverters has continued to increase, and it has begun to occupy an important position worldwide. After successfully "surviving" the survival of subsidies earlier, the leading domestic inverter companies have begun to grow rapidly, and they have now ranked among the world's first echelon. According to data provided by Wood Machenzie, in TOP10, a global photovoltaic inverter company shipping 10 in 2020, domestic companies accounted for 6 seats. They are 41.7GW and 35.0GW, accounting for 23%and 19%of global shipments.
As a pioneer in the field of domestic inverters, the Sungrow starts from the photovoltaic inverter business, and with its advantages in power conversion technology, the horizontal extension to wind power variables, energy storage variables, new energy vehicle charging systems, etc. Fields, and further extended to downstream new energy power stations, have become all-round players covering multiple energy application scenarios. Of course, the Sungrow can take a lead in the field of the inverter, which is inseparable from its own multiple advantages.
First of all, compared with other competitors, Sungrow has advantages in comprehensive performance and low price, with a very high cost performance. For example, in terms of conversion efficiency, the conversion efficiency of world-class brand products can reach 98% or more. As early as 2017, the maximum efficiency of SG1250UD, the world's first outdoor centralized inverter launched by Sunshine Power Supply, has reached 99% or more.
In terms of service life, the designed service life of photovoltaic power generation system is generally about 20 years, while the household inverter SG10/12KTL-M of solar power supply can reach 25 years.
In addition to good performance, more importantly, it has a strong ability to control the cost of products. The price of photovoltaic products has fallen sharply over the past decade due to rapid technological advances and the need for affordable access to the Internet. Data shows that the inverter price dropped from 2 yuan /W to 0.2 yuan /W in ten years from 2008 to 2018. The rapid decline in price quickly shuffled a large number of industry players, and the concentration of the head leading enterprises was further improved. Sungrow is one of the leading enterprises to benefit from the low cost advantage.
It is reported that the product cost range of Sungrow power supply is mostly 0.12 yuan /W-0.5 yuan /W, although the price has fallen sharply, Sungrow power supply still has more than 30% of the gross profit, and has not been too much impact brought by the product price drop, and even beat the overseas giants one by one with these advantages, ranked among the top in the world.
Compared with the Sungrow, Huawei is devoted to power inverter for a short time, but with its technological advantages, it still achieves a lot in the inverter market. On the one hand, the timing of its entry and the difference in product positioning make it win the early opportunity. The motivation of Huawei's entry into the industry is also very clear. The prospects of the photovoltaic industry are broad. The production of inverters and Huawei's foundamental communication equipment business and power management business are similar. Huawei enrollment can quickly copy and move its existing technology and Supply chain advantages and import suppliers, thereby greatly reducing procurement costs and forming its own advantages.
It is undeniable that the group -type inverter under the definition of Huawei subverts the tradition, integrate digital technology with electronic electronic technology, and use intelligent controllers as the core to create smart photovoltaic solutions with better electrical costs. A series of concepts such as fan -free wire, intelligent photovoltaic solutions, intelligent IV diagnostic technology, SDS intelligent tracking bracket optimization algorithm, etc., maximize the value of the group series inverter, and also lead the concept innovation of the inverter market.
Seen from the market in the past two years, cluster inverters have grown rapidly, especially the rise of cluster inverters enterprises represented by Huawei, which has had a profound impact on the existing pattern of the industry. So, is the inverter market changing? To answer this question, we need to consider several aspects.
On the one hand, inverter application scenarios are diverse, and the current product is still in constant change and evolution. Before the final dominant product is formed, the coexistence of various inverters may still be the normal.
On the other hand, the inverter is closely related to power transportation. The pursuit of high reliability, high efficiency, and low cost are always the core demands. Therefore, new technology applications that can meet this condition will become the core trend leading to the development of the industry.
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