Leading solar inverter manufacturer SMA is acquiring a majority stake in Chinese inverter company Jiangsu Zeversolar New Energy Co., Ltd.
Still subject to government approval, SMA’s 72.5% stake will give the company greater access to China’s booming domestic solar power market.
“Over the next few years, China will become the largest photovoltaic market worldwide,” said SMA’s Pierre-Pascal Urbon. “We are taking advantage of this historic chance to successfully anchor SMA in a young growth market and to further establish our position as global market leader.”
Mr Urbon says through the acquisition, SMA can open up the procurement channels in China more quickly than planned. SMA hopes to kick off the economic start of the joint venture on January 1, 2013. The company says given infrastructure already in place, it’s in a position to rapidly ramp up capacity through already established processes.
Zeversolar produces a wide range of solar inverter products; from units for residential PV systems through to utility scale models. Production is based in Yangzhong in Jiangsu province and the company has research and development facilities in Suzhou and Shanghai. Employing more than 450 employees globally, Zeversolar achieved sales of CNY approx. 250 million in 2011 and sold 215 MW of inverter capacity. The company also has subsidiaries in Australia.
SMA itself is the world’s solar inverter goliath. The SMA Group generated sales of AUD 2.15 billion in 2011. SMA has a presence in 21 countries on six continents, including Australia, and employs more than 5,500 people worldwide.
In other recent SMA news, the company says it has equipped the first off-grid solar diesel hybrid power station generating electricity in the megawatt range in South Africa with SMA solar inverters and intelligent system management. Consisting of 4,200 photovoltaic solar panels and 63 Sunny Tripower inverters, the installation will supplement a mining operation with up to 1.8 gigawatt hours of solar energy annually.
