A recent article in Bloomberg looked at the different experiences of global energy and engineering powerhouses ABB and Siemens as each ventured into solar. Siemens got slaughtered with some poor bets in solar-thermal. ABB, in contrast, went after solar inverters, which is a competitive market but which has benefited from the solid growth in utility scale and residential rooftop solar.

The article had some telling data:

SMA Solar Technology AG (S92), the Niestetal, Germany-based market leader for solar inverters, expects sales to improve by 10 percent to 45 percent next year even as price pressure accelerates amid subsidy cuts in Europe. The price of inverters for residential solar power plunged 42 percent to 20 U.S. cents a watt in the three years through November 2013, according to data from Bloomberg Industries.

The European Photovoltaic Industry Association forecasts cumulative global solar installations could double in the three years through 2015 to 197.6 gigawatts, spurred by growth across Europe, China and the U.S.. ABB is budgeting for the solar-inverter market to be worth as much as $7 billion this year, Ghavi said.

What’s obviously missing from these numbers is profit as opposed to revenue. What the whole solar PV industry is looking for is not just solid revenue growth and price stabilization but margins that can sustain these companies and allow for further R&D investments. I think these things will come as retail electricity prices creep north and solar becomes competitive, market by market. And the companies that remain healthy with good infrastructure to deliver inverters at the right price and on time will begin to take control of the industry, hopefully leading to further pricing stabilization.