A recent GOGLA report indicated that there is a growing trend for hybrid power solutions that integrate DC solar energy with AC grid power, and appliances that integrate AC and DC power. In particular, the sales of hybrid solar inverter UPS in India are growing at a rate of 25% each year, which is much higher than the market growth rate of 10% of traditional inverters each year.
The Gogla report highlights the emergence of hybrid AC-DC infrastructure in India.
A recent GOGLA report stated that the distributed renewable energy market in India is developing towards hybridization, that is, hybrid solar systems have emerged that can integrate DC solar energy with AC grid power and can provide power to AC and DC equipment.
Since almost all households in India can use the main AC power grid today, the desire for uninterruptible power supplies and the growing consumer demand are driving this trend.
Both existing and new market players are meeting this growing demand by providing hybrid AC-DC (HAD) power solutions. The report added that at the same time, HAD appliances (appliances with dual-input or battery-integrated appliances) have also attracted the attention of established OEMs and new start-up companies.
The report emphasizes that hybrid solar inverter UPS and hybrid grid-connected inverter are two key HAD power solutions with great potential.
The hybrid solar inverter UPS allows the load to run directly on solar energy (using a charge controller) and charge the battery when the battery is not fully charged. This feature enables consumers to save on grid electricity bills for daily consumption.
The grid-connected variant, the hybrid grid-connected solar inverter, also supports the output of electricity to the main grid. Therefore, if applicable, customers can choose a net metering facility from Discom. The report predicts that hybrid grid-connected solar inverters will be popular in residential rooftops and microgrids.
According to the report, many mature UPS manufacturers in India, such as Luminous, Microtek and V-guard, have launched hybrid solar inverter UPS solutions. On the other hand, the hybrid grid-connected inverter market is in its infancy, and only a few companies such as Enertech, Statcon Energia, Sofar and Solax cater to this market.
According to the report, the hybrid solar inverter UPS system market currently accounts for 10% of the conventional inverter market. In 2019, India sold 800,000 hybrid solar inverter UPS systems, while the annual sales volume of traditional inverters was about 8 million.
However, compared with the traditional inverter market growth rate of 10% per year, the hybrid solar inverter UPS industry is growing faster at a rate of 25% per year.
The report recommends a hybrid grid-connected inverter system to customers seeking backup power due to frequent power outages. These inverters have on-grid and off-grid (only when the battery is available) functions, and they can continue to operate on solar energy even in the event of a grid failure.
According to the report, due to the high upfront equipment costs (the cost of hybrid inverters is usually 20-30% higher than traditional inverters), high sales effort, low customer awareness, and lack of standardization and other challenges, the market adoption of dual-input HAD equipment is still limited.
It recommends that original equipment manufacturers define their marketing strategies and modify their product designs to tap the potential HAD market. At the same time, the government should provide policy/regulatory support for the industry by providing rural subsidies, setting standards, and promoting HAD power solutions/equipment under existing plans.
In order to promote the HAD ecosystem in India, the report recommends that power solution providers focus on the solarization of traditional UPS inverters (because 10% of the inverter market has switched to hybrid solar UPS systems) and upgrade traditional inverter designs to Provide DC output.
Equipment OEMs should add DC input as an option to provide flexibility to the end user. The report added that they can start to promote appliances with DC interfaces, forcing traditional inverter manufacturers to add DC output lines.
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