Dec 06 2009
The Great Inverter Shortage!
As a follow up to the recent article on inverters, I thought it would be a good idea to warn you that if you wanted to buy an inverter in time for Christmas I’m afraid you’re out of luck. As result of the huge demand for residential PV systems Germany described on this site below, it is virtually impossible to find an inverter of any size or manufacturer in the whole of Europe at the moment.
The big manufacturers; SMA, Fronius, Mastervolt and the like are all completely sold out and are unclear when their next shipments can be made. Wholesellers are operating on a first come first serve basis and taking orders three months in advance. This means that if you were thinking of installing a PV system in the next few months but haven’t ordered your equipment yet you’d better get a move on. We’ve even heard reports of SMA shipping inverters to German customers without LCD displays in efforts to meet demand. (apparently the displays will be delivered in a few months time when they can be clipped on).
I guess the shortage is a good sign that the solar industry is alive and kicking. However if the feed-in-tariff is announced in the UK soon and it turns out to be a good one, there’s going to be a lot of frustrated people out there unable get involved for the lack of an inverter.
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[...] solar inverter industry supply chain is fluid at best, and a bit unstable at worst. And right now inverters are not easy to find in Europe. The situation has become serious enough to warrant a conference panel of its own to focus on the [...]