Shortage in parts for solar panels

Aurora · Post by **Aurora** » 03 Jul 2010, 15:50

The Telegraph - 02/07/10

It might be sunny but solar panels around Britain are failing to generate any electricity because of a shortage of parts.

Article continues ...

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 03 Jul 2010, 17:46

But despite the high hopes, many people have been left frustrated by a small box than converts the energy from sunlight into electricity. The 'inverters' are in short supply around the world because of the popularity of solar panels in Germany and the US

I thought the PV modules converted sunlight to electricity. The inverter converts the wrong sort of electricity into the right sort of electricity

Mark · Post by **Mark** » 07 Jul 2010, 17:02

Yes, I've also heard that there's a shortage of inverters.
Shirley there's an opportunity here for British manufacturers to exploit ?

This is a prime example of a green technology with an opportunity for green jobs and some much needed wealth generation.......

Mr. Fox · Post by **Mr. Fox** » 08 Jul 2010, 02:55

FYI, from SMA the other week:

Current product lead-time situation

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you know, product lead-times in the inverter market have increased dramatically. While it is currently
difficult for us to provide you with accurate and reliable forecasts with regard to how the situation will
develop, we nevertheless would like to take this opportunity to inform you about the current status in
general, and describe the activities which we have initiated in order to improve the overall situation.
Recently, the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and
Nuclear Safety (BMU), announced a significant reduction in the feed-in tariff for solar power in
accordance with the German Renewable Energies Act (EEG) which will go into effect earlier than
expected, namely as of July 2010. With this announcement, the current demand for our photovoltaic
inverters increased disproportionately. In addition, worldwide economic growth is driving global demand
from a growing number of countries in which subsidy programs have been introduced. An effect that is
resulting in an additional massive increase in demand from abroad.
As you may have already heard through the media, besides the extreme demand for inverters, at the
same time there is also currently a substantial shortage of electronic components and semiconductors
on the world market. More and more promised deliveries are not being received and, consequently, our
electronics manufacturing is falling short of necessary quantities. In turn, this is leading to an
unexpected decrease in production, and is subsequently also impacting our inverter production
capabilities.
This combination of circumstances has led not only to an exacerbation of product lead-times, it is also
making it nearly impossible to provide you with an accurate prognosis regarding how the situation will
develop. Compounded by the uncertain availability of electronic components from suppliers, we regret
that we are currently unable to reliably answer your inquiries concerning the delivery status of inverter
orders.

Our purchasing department, our development engineers and production planners are working with the
highest priority on solutions. Still, we assume that the product lead-time situation will remain critical until
the end of the second quarter of 2010. Nevertheless, we would like to offer you the following
information describing short- and mid-term activities which we have initiated in order to improve the
overall situation:
• Creation of interim solutions for the short-term expansion of production capacities to
eleven gigawatts in total. Construction of these facilities began in January. A portion of these
additional production capacities will be available starting in March and will be ramped up by the
end of the second quarter of 2010.
• Inverter production for the North American market will begin in March at our Denver, USA site.
This additional manufacturing facility will gradually offset the load of manufacturing in Kassel by
one gigawatt by the end of the second quarter of 2010.
• Alternative solutions in design, and redesign of component specifications by our development
engineers in order to make use of available components.
• Adaptation of capacity planning as well as the development of new strategic partnerships with
our suppliers to further increase our flexibility.
• Further investments in even larger production capacities in Kassel to ensure short lead-times in
all segments.
At this time, we expect that a sufficient supply of electronic components will become available during
the second half of this year, while current and continuing initiatives for our capacity increase to
eleven gigawatts will be in place and ramping up for operation. Once supplier parts become available,
we will be able to utilize the full extent of these additional capacities. Meanwhile, the on-going capacity
expansion provisions will enable us to react quickly in the event of short-term changes in the supply of
electronic components. Should they become available sooner than currently expected, SMA will be in a
position to boost inverter production volume when the supply of materials stabilizes.
Of course, we know that this update does not alleviate your current situation. However, please be
assured that we are doing everything possible in order to improve the availability of our inverters.
If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact our sales team.
Yours sincerely,
SMA Solar Technology AG
Marko Werner
Chief Sales Officer

My emph. Sorry for the formatting.

Fronius tell a similar story.

F*ck it. I'm off to sell security products... everyone ok for razorwire?

ecoworrier · Post by **ecoworrier** » 08 Jul 2010, 20:46

Yes, I've also heard that there's a shortage of inverters.
Shirley there's an opportunity here for British manufacturers to exploit ?

Nail on the head, Fronius started making Inverters for electric locomotives,
we must have expertise in this area.

We had some trouble finding Inverters in the beginning of the year but it's easing now.
Things will start to get interesting when the solar farms are being built, will domestic customers get a look in then?

Post by **adam2** » 09 Jul 2010, 06:39

AFAIK the shortage only applies to grid tie inverters, not to those used with stand alone battery charging systems.

I would not worry too much about large PV farms since these often use very large inverters,of a hundred KW or more.
These are built to order, not taken from stock that could have supplied domestic customers.

There does seem to be a general shortage of power electronic components at present, possibly due to the number of electric trains and trams being built.

farookraghva · Post by **farookraghva** » 05 Oct 2010, 11:42

Manufacturers of solar panels that the shortage is a blip that will not stop the massive growth of sun in England in the long term.

ADVERT DELETED

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 05 Oct 2010, 12:02

farookraghva wrote:Manufacturers of solar panels that the shortage is a blip that will not stop the massive growth of sun in England in the long term.

If you really want folk to take seriously the website that you are trying to plug, writing your posts in good English might help. The grammar is much better there and there's some useful information too. Don't be shy