PV inverter prices rise by 10%-15%, chip shortage may affect year-round supply

On April 12, GoodWe announced a price increase to its customers, and today Growatt also released a statement on product price adjustments, with both manufacturers raising prices by 10-15% for certain models. The chain reaction of price increases due to chip shortages is still continuing, with many inverter manufacturers raising prices.

In the past two weeks, 53 chip manufacturers have collectively issued price increase and price adjustment statements. Core component chips and IGBT power devices used in inverters are facing extreme shortages. In addition, the prices of bulk raw materials including copper and aluminum continued to rise in 2021, which has brought price increase pressure on photovoltaic inverters.

It is understood that the main chip brands used in the photovoltaic industry are: Infineon, NXP, Microchip, STMicroelectronics (ST), Lite-On Technology, Qiangmao, Diodes, TE, Jiangsu Jiejie Microelectronics, ALLERRO, etc. The core components of the inverter, such as IGBT and IC semiconductors, are particularly dependent on imports.

The global chip shortage has become an indisputable fact. The US auto industry predicts that the country's car production will be reduced by 1.28 million vehicles. Even Apple, which has strong control over the supply chain, has postponed the production of some MacBooks and iPads. A well-known securities analyst pointed out that the chip shortage may continue until the end of 2021.

In response to the current "chip shortage", a photovoltaic inverter sales manager said that the inverters required for household, commercial and industrial distributed and ground power stations will be affected. Although the explosion of household use this year exceeded expectations, due to the high component prices, it has not yet started significantly, and large ground power stations have not yet been connected to the grid on a large scale, so distributed power stations may be the first to be affected. "Since our string inverters are mainly exported and the domestic gross profit is too low, we may first protect the overseas market in the case of price increases and shortages." The person in charge added.

In general, the inverter manufacturing industry will continue to face pressure from chip shortages this year, and this round of inverter price increases will also bring a series of chain reactions to the photovoltaic industry. Although China has increased its investment in the chip industry, it will take some time before photovoltaic manufacturing is no longer "choked" by imported chips.