Foreword:
Judging from the current market dynamics, the integration of MLPE and components may become the development trend of mainstream products in the future.
As an inverter subdivision track, MLPE has a high industry growth rate and a broad market space in the future.
Author ｜ Fang Wen
Image source ｜ Internet
AI Core World丨Industry丨MLPE Revolutionizes the Inverter Market with Broad Potential Growth Space
Distributed photovoltaic high-speed penetration
Increasing the proportion of renewable energy in my country’s total energy consumption is of great significance to achieve the [double carbon] goal.
In 2021, my country’s photovoltaic power generation capacity will be 325.9 billion kWh, accounting for less than 4.0% of the country’s total annual power generation capacity, and there is still broad room for growth in photovoltaic power generation.
Photovoltaic systems continue to be popularized in the fields of household use, industry and commerce, and the proportion of new installed capacity of distributed photovoltaics in the world has increased significantly, and distributed photovoltaics has entered a period of rapid development.
With economic and policy support, the demand for distributed photovoltaics is strong, and its proportion is expected to increase from 44% in 2022 to 49% in 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of about 38% in installed capacity.
In 2022, my country’s new distributed installed capacity is expected to reach more than 50GW, accounting for 60% of the country’s new installed capacity.
In the distributed photovoltaic scenario, the MLPE solution has obvious advantages
MLPE, (Module Level Power Electronics, MLPE for short), that is, component-level power electronics, refers to power electronic equipment that can finely control a single or several photovoltaic modules in a solar photovoltaic system.
It mainly realizes functions such as inverter, monitoring, power optimization, and shutdown, and performs fine control of photovoltaic modules.
Thanks to the rapid penetration of distributed photovoltaics, component-level power electronics represented by micro-inverters have also begun to emerge in the market.
Safety, intelligence, and flexibility have become important criteria for photovoltaic inverters. The technical advantages of MLPE will become increasingly prominent, and the future market space will be broad.
The rapid growth of MLPE is due to the increased policy requirements for the safety of photovoltaic power generation systems.
The increase in the proportion of distributed photovoltaics has led to frequent security issues, and security has inevitably become a systemic factor that local governments and users need to focus on.
The cumulative DC voltage of the entire string of lines in the photovoltaic string can reach a high voltage of 600V-1500V, resulting in two major safety hazards, the risk of DC high voltage and the risk of rescue.
In response to such potential safety hazards, many countries around the world have successively promulgated mandatory regulations or standards, requiring the voltage of components to be reduced to a safe range within a short period of time.
The United States was the first country to propose the concept of module-level shutdown and implement relevant mandatory regulations. Subsequently, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Australia and other countries successively introduced policies and regulations. MLPE solutions will gradually become the standard configuration of global distributed photovoltaics.
MLPE Revolutionizes the Inverter Market
With the increase in power of supporting photovoltaic modules, the rated output power of MLPE inverters is also increasing.
The increase in the power of a single module improves product compatibility, directly drives the expansion of the application scenarios and scope of MLPE products, and accelerates the continuous penetration of products.
In order to reduce the demand for raw materials and components, and reduce assembly integration and operation and maintenance costs, MLPE components are directly integrated into photovoltaic modules as a new possibility.
Judging from the current market dynamics, the integration of MLPE and components may become the development trend of mainstream products in the future.
As an inverter subdivision track, MLPE has a high industry growth rate and a broad market space in the future.
With the gradual maturity of the distributed photovoltaic market, photovoltaic systems will develop in a safer and more intelligent direction, and the technological advantages and value of MLPE will become increasingly prominent.
Local governments are paying more attention to the safety of distributed photovoltaics. In the future, more cities are expected to improve safety standards and promote the development of MLPE (module-level electronic equipment) such as micro-inverters, optimizers, and shutdown devices in the domestic market.
As the domestic government and users pay more attention to the safety of distributed photovoltaics, MLPE products continue to reduce costs and increase efficiency.
The development of MLPE products in China is expected to start. The huge installed capacity of the Chinese market will bring huge space for the development of MLPE, and the domestic inverter market will further expand.
AI Core World丨Industry丨MLPE Revolutionizes the Inverter Market with Broad Potential Growth Space
The micro-inverter market has a large room for growth
The proportion of distributed photovoltaic installed capacity is high due to the high component prices in 2021, which leads to a relatively high share of distributed installed capacity with relatively low price sensitivity.
Combined with the maintenance of distributed photovoltaic’s own growth attributes, the subsequent proportion is expected to continue to increase. In 2026, the distributed proportion will increase from 44% to 49%.
The penetration rate of micro-inverters in the distributed photovoltaic market is expected to increase from 9% to 19%. It is estimated that by 2026, the annual shipment of micro-inverters is expected to reach 33GW.
The micro-inverter is positioned in the application scenarios of the small and medium power segment of photovoltaics, and is suitable for areas with relatively low price sensitivity and emphasis on application attributes and brands.
Domestic inverter manufacturers have deployed MLPE one after another to continuously reduce costs and increase efficiency. Micro-inverter manufacturers are all expanding to high power and continuously reducing the cost per watt.
Domestic micro-inverter manufacturers have generally raised their shipment expectations for next year. Next year, Hemai Micro-Inverter is expected to ship 2.5-3 million units, Deye is expected to ship 1.5-2 million units, and Aeonergy’s expected shipments are converted to 8 million+ components, with an average of A year-on-year increase of 1-2 times.
AI Core World丨Industry丨MLPE Revolutionizes the Inverter Market with Broad Potential Growth Space
The advantages of micro-inverters in the distributed market are magnified
The micro-inverter can track the maximum power point of each photovoltaic module independently, and then merge it into the AC grid after inversion, so as to realize the inverter that finely adjusts and monitors the output power of each photovoltaic module.
In the distributed market, micro-inverters rely on their advantages in safety, power generation efficiency, reliability, and flexibility to superimpose global photovoltaic module-level power electronics safety requirements continue to deepen.
The penetration rate of micro-inverters in the distributed photovoltaic market is expected to increase from 9% to 19%. It is estimated that by 2026, the annual shipment of micro-inverters is expected to reach 33GW.
In general, the global micro-inverter market is still in the development stage, suppliers are highly concentrated, and the head effect is obvious.
Due to the high technical threshold of micro-inverters, a certain amount of investment is required for R&D and design, and the speed of technological change is relatively fast, there are certain barriers to entry. The domestic listed PTS includes APEX, Hemai and Deye.
With the growth of the MLPE market and the accumulation of previous related technology channels, [photovoltaic + distributed proportion + MLPE penetration] multi-dimensionally supports the growth of demand for micro-inverters.
Domestic companies have shown strong competitiveness with product iterations and channel cultivation, and their market share is expected to continue to rise, and overseas markets will bring high profit margins.
AI Core World丨Industry丨MLPE Revolutionizes the Inverter Market with Broad Potential Growth Space
end:
With the gradual maturity of the distributed photovoltaic market, photovoltaic systems will develop in a safer and more intelligent direction, and the technological advantages and value of MLPE will become increasingly prominent.
Local governments are paying more attention to the safety of distributed photovoltaics. In the future, it is expected to see more cities improve safety standards and promote the development of MLPE such as micro-inverters, optimizers, and disconnectors in the domestic market.