April PV inverter rankings! Central SOEs lead with 41GW: TBEA, Hopewind, Huawei, Sungrow, GoodWe, Sineng, Kehua, KSTAR, Ginlong, Chint Power and others!

According to incomplete statistics from the International Energy Network/PV Headlines (PV-2005) based on public information, from April 1 to April 30, about 49 PV inverter bidding projects (bid sections) were finalized, with a total capacity of 37.83GW . Among the winning companies , TBEA, Hopewind Electric, Huawei, Sungrow Power Supply, GoodWe, Sineng Electric, Kehua Data, KSTAR, Ginlong Technology, Sofar New Energy , Zhuzhou Converter, and Chint Power Supply won the bid.

In terms of bidding, China Electric, China Resources, State Energy Group, China National Nuclear Corporation, China Southern Power Grid, Jinkai New Energy, Beijing Energy Group and other companies have issued 29 bidding projects with a total capacity of about 3.46GW .

TBEA, Hopewind, and Huawei lead the bidders

The lowest price is 0.098 yuan/W, the highest price is 0.191 yuan/W

According to statistics from the International Energy Network/PV Headlines (PV-2005), from April 1 to April 30, in the domestic inverter bidding market, 31 inverter manufacturers or agents, including TBEA, Hopewind Electric, Huawei, Sungrow Power Supply , Sineng Electric, Kehua Data, GoodWe, KSTAR, Ginlong Technology, Sofar New Energy , Zhuzhou Conversion, and Chint Power, jointly won 37.83GW of photovoltaic inverter bidding and procurement orders.

Among them, TBEA won 3810MW, ranking first; Hopewind Electric won 2280MW, ranking second; Huawei won 2127MW, ranking third . In addition, Sungrow Power Supply, Kashi Zhaoheng Clean Energy Co., Ltd., Sineng Electric, Kehua Data, GoodWe, KSTAR, Rifeng Electric and other companies also ranked in the top ten of the inverter bid list in April.

Looking at the bidding market in April, the PV inverter bidding market is highly competitive and prices fluctuate. According to statistics from the International Energy Network/PV Headlines (PV-2005), the lowest bid project in April was China Huadian Corporation's 2024 first batch of inverter framework bidding section 1: 200kW and above string inverters. TBEA was the winning candidate with a bid price of 0.098 yuan/W. The bidding capacity of this section is 10GW. Huadian Zhengzhou Mechanical Design Institute Co., Ltd. had the highest bid price of 0.119 yuan/W, which was 0.0207 yuan/W lower than TBEA.

The highest bid project is the procurement of centralized inverter and booster equipment (Huabian) for the 270MW fishery-photovoltaic complementary photovoltaic project in Nandashan Town, Yuanjiang, Chang'an. The project bidder is Beijing Shuangjie Electric Co., Ltd., and KSTAR is one of the winning candidates, with a bid price of 0.191 yuan/W.

In addition, in the inverter bidding market in April, there was fierce competition among inverter companies. Taking the centralized inverter procurement of China National Nuclear Power in 2024 as an example, the bidding capacity of Section 1 was 3GW, and 8 companies participated in the bidding, all of which were well-known domestic inverter companies. The bidding capacity of Section 2 was 5GW, and a total of 16 inverter companies participated in the bidding. In the end, 5 companies were shortlisted as winning candidates, and 11 were eliminated. The bidding capacity of Section 3 was 2GW, and 17 inverter companies participated in the bidding, and 12 were eliminated.

Since the second half of 2023, inverter companies have been hampered from shipping due to inventory accumulation in overseas markets. Competition in the domestic market has become more intense, and some listed inverter companies have made frank statements in their annual reports that they have made concessions on prices in order to compete for the market, which is particularly evident in the bidding and quotation strategies, and there is no sign of the price war stopping.

37.83GW inverter procurement

State-owned enterprises account for 93.18%, who is the winner?

According to the information of public bidding, 15 enterprises and 49 inverter procurement projects (bid sections) were awarded from April 1 to April 30, with a total capacity of 37.83GW. The number of central enterprises procurement projects (bid sections) was 43, with a total capacity of 35.25GW, accounting for 93.18% of the total capacity.

As for purchasing companies, nine central enterprises including Huadian, China National Nuclear Corporation, China Three Gorges Corporation, Power Construction Corporation of China, State Energy Group, General Technology Group, China Resources, China Communications Construction Company, and China Southern Power Grid all have inverter procurement project bidding.

Among them, the statistics of International Energy Network/PV Headlines (PV-2005) show that Huadian has bid 13GW of inverter procurement projects in this statistical period, ranking first in the inverter bid capacity list in April. Among the winning companies, seven companies including KSTAR, TBEA, GoodWe, Sungrow Power Supply, Zhengzhou Machinery, Sineng Electric, and Zhuzhou Converter have become the biggest winners.

The Huadian bidding project is the first batch of inverter framework bidding of China Huadian Corporation in 2024. The project is divided into 4 bidding sections with a total capacity of 13GW. Among them, the bidding capacity of 200kW and above string inverters is 10GW, and the bidding capacity of centralized inverters is 2GW. The bidding capacity of 50-150kW string inverters is 0.6GW, and the bidding capacity of less than 50kW is 0.4GW.

KSTAR and TBEA were shortlisted for 4 bidding sections, GoodWe and Sungrow were shortlisted for 2 bidding sections. The other specific winning bids are as follows:

The three annual inverter centralized procurement projects of CNNC were all finalized in April. Among them, the centralized procurement of inverters of CNNC Huineng in 2024 has a capacity of 10GW; the shortlisted suppliers of inverter framework procurement of CNNC (Nanjing) Energy Development Co., Ltd. in 2024 have a project capacity of 1GW; and the first-level centralized procurement project of photovoltaic inverters of CNNC in 2024 has a procurement capacity of 1GW.

Among the winning companies, 15 companies including Sineng Electric, Sungrow Power Supply, Hopewind Electric, Zhuzhou Converter, Kstar, GoodWe, Kehua Data, Huawei, and Chint Power Supply won the bid.

This centralized procurement by CNNC fully tests the strength of each inverter. As mentioned above, the competition among enterprises is fierce, and the probability of elimination is high. Chint Power was shortlisted for the 2024 inverter centralized procurement package 2 of CNNC Huineng, and the 2024 inverter framework procurement supplier of CNNC (Nanjing) Energy Development Co., Ltd. was shortlisted for the bidding package 1. Among them, the 2024 inverter centralized procurement package 2 of CNNC Huineng clearly purchases string inverters above 300kW.

According to the news released by Chint Power, Chint Power's 320kW string inverter is the main product shortlisted for the project. The inverter uses heat exchanger technology, which can meet the requirements of maintaining a rated power of 320kW in a high temperature environment of 50°C, and supports 1.1 times full load operation at 45°C. In addition, Chint Power's 320kW string inverter supports multi-channel MPPT tracking, with a maximum input current of 40A for a single MPPT. The design current takes into account the 10% gain of the bifacial components, and is flexibly adapted to various specifications of components such as 210/182/210R. At the same time, the Chint Power 320kW string inverter has an IP66 protection level for the entire machine, and also achieves IP66 protection for the junction box cover and C5-M level corrosion protection, which is suitable for ground power station scenarios in various environments.

Details of the winning bids for CNNC inverter procurement in April are as follows:

In this statistical period, the Three Gorges Group's 2024 photovoltaic inverter framework centralized procurement project was awarded. The project is divided into two sections, of which Section 1 purchases 196-300kW string inverters with a bid capacity of 400MW, and Huawei finally won the bid. The procurement capacity of the section is 7600MW, with TBEA, Hopewind Electric, and Huawei ranking the top three. According to the winning ratio of 5:3:2, TBEA won 3800MW, Hopewind won 2280MW, and Huawei won 1520MW.

China Power Construction Corporation has 28 projects awarded in April, with a total capacity of 1,625.29MW. 17 companies including Sungrow Power Supply, GoodWe, Rifeng Electric, AP Energy Technology, Ginlong Technology, Huawei, Hopewind, and Sineng Electric won the bid. Details are as follows:

On April 7, the State Energy Group Guohua Investment finalized the bid for the first batch of photovoltaic grid-connected inverter procurement public bidding projects in 2024. The project procured 400MW 3300kW and above box inverter integrated machines, and Kehua Data finally won the bid with a unit price of 0.164 yuan/W.

In this statistical period, General Technology and China Resources Group each had one project bid, and Huawei became the final winner.

On April 16, China Communications Construction Corporation's Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries-New Industry Division finalized the bid for the inverter procurement project for the 2024 operation and maintenance project. The project purchased 2,210 8kW string inverters and 20 10kW inverters, and GoodWe finally won the bid .

In April, China Southern Power Grid had five projects awarded, and five companies including TBEA, Huawei, and Ginlong Technology became the final winners.