inverter shortages known about since october 2009

most wholesale suppliers did not order in advance

tiny amount  ordered in advance

small  low powers 1 - 4kwp very short supply until 2011

or dealers only selling with modules & inverters

some dealers quoting next year for deliveries 

if required can supply sma  , power-one  , fronius from stock

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Regarding the shortage of Grid Tie Inverters, I spoke to my Dutch supplier last week and he was sold out until next march.

A local cavity wall insulation company contracted to E-O-N has installed 300 PV roof systems and has 7 inverters only and was chasing me as many others have and willing to pay anything as this may cause major cash flow problems for such companies.

Another company who have invested £10 million importing PV panels only to have their 1,000 inverter order cancelled

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The shortage of inverters is mainly due to a bottleneck in the sourcing process of inverter components. In order to understand the situation you need to take a closer look at the the main market for solar energy, Germany. The market is booming as the incentives and thus the return on investment for solar energy systems is amongst the highest world wide. Cuts in feed in tariffs have an impact on ROI and therefore investors demand full operations of the system before deadlines (01.01.2010 / 01.07.2010 / 01.01.2011) to secure a maximum of subsidies. The shortage exists since October 2009 and has been propelled by the government announcement to reduce the tariffs at end of QII 2010. Companies in the inverter industry have given delivery priority to the German market to due its importance in terms of market size and their market share. Some of the grid providers have reacted and stated that in future it will be sufficient to provide proof of an installed system with only the solarmodule installed. 

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