Conference call in lockdown: While working from home is still the order of the day in Berlin, Israel has just ended the two-week state of emergency. "We worked from home," says Lior Handelsman, Solaredge's sales director. "It was amazing how well it worked with the video conferencing." Now the staff have returned to the modern office complex in Herzlia, north of Tel Aviv, although they still have to comply with hygiene regulations.
Crisis tracked in real time
SolarEdge was able to follow the global virus crisis virtually in real time: "We were able to see by the installations exactly, more or less immediately, how the virus has spread around the globe," reports Lior Handelsmann. "Because we can see instantly when somewhere in the world our customers connect their optimisers and inverters.
According to his observation, the German market was doing quite well, even better than in the first four months of last year. "There was no sign of a lockdown in the German solar industry," Handelsman analyses. "In Italy, France, Spain and the US, however, expansion in some cases collapsed and came to a complete standstill. Now things are picking up again in all markets, a consequence of the easing. The markets are slowly returning."
Looking into a crystal ball
Handelsman does not want to make a forecast for the year as a whole, because "that would be like looking into a crystal ball", as he says. "We don't know if a second wave of the virus is coming. We can only guess how quickly the markets will recover from the lockdown. Is a new wave of lockdowns coming? No one can predict that." But he is cautiously optimistic. "I hope business returns to normal in the second half of the year."
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After all, Solaredge's fiscal year had begun at a record pace. In all markets, the signs pointed to continued growth. "Very, very good", confirms Lior Handelsman, and quotes figures: "In the first quarter we sold around five million Power Optimisers worldwide, and around 1.85 gigawatts of inverter capacity".
Significant leap compared to 2019
This is a significant leap compared to 2019: In the entire previous year, around 16 million optimisers were sold globally, plus around 5.6 gigawatts of inverters. So far, SolarEdge has a total of around 50 million optimisers in the field and 16 gigawatts of inverter capacity.
Because the Intersolar unfortunately has to be cancelled this year, SolarEdge engineers are currently developing a virtual, fully immersive showroom using 3D technology. There, on a few days in June, it will be possible to actually meet in person, just like at a real trade fair. The exhibition stand is scheduled to be online from 15 June 2020.
Synergy inverter with 120 kilowatts
This year, the Synergy technology will be on display, which SolarEdge showed last year for the first time. The inverters are divided between DC connection and power electronics. "They are integrated into the system like string devices," explains Lior Handelsman, "but wired like central inverters." In this way, the power units can be combined and scaled like modules. So far, the Synergy inverters were only available up to 100 kilowatts. "In the course of the year, we will bring out a variant with 120 kilowatts," Lior Handelsman promises. (mfo)
