From TheStreet:
Shipments of solar inverters reached 7.3 gigawatts (GW) in the third quarter, another record quarter for inverter shipments as demand in the global photovoltaic market continued unabated.
In the second quarter 2010, global solar inverter shipments of 5 GW were also a record for the industry.
The record numbers for solar inverter shipments have stoked fears that 2010 is "as good as it gets" for companies in the sector. U.S. solar inverter company Power-One(PWER_) has been the poster-child for the bear thesis on the solar inverter market. Power-One has ridden the solar demand in 2010 to new stock highs and massive earnings beats. However, Power-One's most recent earnings beat was met with a big selloff as investors feared that the opportunity for the company had peaked.
Inverter companies reported $2 billion in revenues in the third quarter, according to IMS Research.
London-based IMS Research said in a research report that the majority of solar inverter shipments were for installations in Germany, but growth was slowing in solar's largest market in the third quarter. The demand pull-in in Germany ahead of feed-in tariff cuts in July was massive. Solar installations in Germany in June were above 2 GW, and have since declined. The most recent reported monthly numbers from Germany indicated an installation level of 492 megawatts in September....MORE
