SMA Has High Hopes For 2023

Germany-based inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology AG saw a significant boost in sales last year and is anticipating more of the same in 2023.

The company published provisional, non-audited figures for the 2022 calendar year last week indicating sales of €1,065.9 million compared to €983.4 million in 2021 (up 8.4%).

While sales figures may have been up, total inverter capacity sold was down – 12.2 GW in 2022 compared to 13.6GW in 2021, and 14.4GW in 2020. All up, SMA has shipped more than 110 GW of solar inverter capacity since it was founded. This is much less than some of its younger competitors such as Sungrow, which had racked up 269 GW to the end of June last year.

SMA CEO Jürgen Reinert described last year as a turbulent but successful one for the company.

“The gradually higher availability of electronic components helped us make considerable progress in improving our ability to deliver in the second half of the year.”

A shortage of computer chips and other electronic bits began in 2020, affecting many manufacturers of high-tech kit – including those in the solar industry. And it’s not over yet. While SMA is looking at 2023 with optimism:

“.. we have not yet fully overcome the challenges on the procurement side caused by ongoing supply problems with individual components,” said Mr. Reinert.

SMA’s Board is anticipating sales of €1,350 million to €1,500 million this year. The company didn’t provide an inverter shipment estimate.

The Battle For Hearts And Minds Rages On

It’s not just component availability that has been a challenge for SMA. Mr. Reinert noted:

“We have also worked systematically on making the company more customer-focused in recent months.”

Whether that referred to wholesalers, installer customers, end consumers or all three groups wasn’t clear.

If the SolarQuotes Installer Choice Awards for 2023 (Best Solar Inverters) are anything to go by, SMA has some work to do on this front among installers of small-scale systems in Australia. The company wasn’t on the podium for either best overall inverters, best value inverters or best after-sales support this year.

In the 2023 awards Best Support category, SMA trailed behind Fronius, Sungrow, Enphase, GoodWe, SolarEdge and Huawei in installer voting. SMA is at the premium end of inverter manufacturing and the fact brands more toward the mid-range and budget end of the spectrum such as Sungrow and GoodWe were ahead should give SMA some pause for thought.

But better documentation, tech and warranty support is generally on the wish- lists of what installers want from solar inverters, and SQ’s Anthony has noted in regard to SMA’s warranty support:

“From the few times I’ve had to use it, the process of getting an RA, getting a unit shipped and swapping it over to freight the dead one back is seamless.”

SMA inverter products are in wide use in Australia; utilised in everything from small-scale PV systems to utility-scale solar farms. Based on SMA inverter reviews here on SolarQuotes, Australian end-users are generally pretty pleased with the inverters. The brand has scored an average 4.6- star rating overall and 4.6 stars over the last 12 months.

SMA is currently listed on SQ’s recommended inverter brands chart. You can compare specs/estimated pricing of some of the company’s inverters with other brands on our solar inverter comparison table.