- The STA has warned Italian company Fimer, which is set to acquire Swiss company ABBโs inverter business, it will have to honor customer service commitments made to its British members
- The STA also voiced fears related to historic quality issues with ABB inverters.
When Swiss manufacturer ABB announced the intendedย sale of its inverter businessย to Italian company Fimer in July, eyebrows were raised over theย $430 million the vendor agreed to hand overย as part of the sale.
With the total value of the transaction not made public, ABB agreed to stump up around $430 million over six years to cover warranty risks and other liabilities.
An open letter published today by U.K. industry body theย Solar Trade Associationย (STA) โ and addressed to ABB and Fimer โ sheds some light on why ABB felt it necessary to include such a sizable sweetener.
โIt must be said that our members have reported that ABB inverters suffer from a failure rate above their peer group, specifically in terms of ailing modules and fires on the central inverters, and diodes on the string inverters,โ reads the letter.
Unsatisfactory customer service
The STA said the communication has been issued on behalf of its 180 members, which it claims represent more than 70% ofย Britainโs utility scale solar market. The association said it is concerned with the handling of the quality issues mentioned and said it has received ample complaints of โunreasonableโ delays in assessing warranty claims and carrying out repairs, in comparison to the conduct of other inverter suppliers. The association said several companies affected by inverter failures had contacted ABB and โnot received satisfactory responsesโ.
The STA said members are concerned the change in ownership of the company willย further complicate the process of โreceiving the service and assistance they are entitled toโ.
The letter ended by urging ABB and Fimer to devote sufficient resources to address the concerns raised. โCredible plans should be put forward to give our members assurance that the right equipment and properly trained personnel will be available, going forward and during the lifetime of our membersโ assets and service mandates,โ the letter concluded.
A spokesperson for ABB toldย pv magazine: โAt ABB we are committed to delivering the highest levels of customer service and are currently investigating this matter.โ
Full circle
The Swiss company entered the inverter business by acquiring Italian manufacturerย Power-Oneย in 2013 and things are due to come full circle, in terms of the nationality of the business at least, next year.
pv magazineย has also contacted Fimer about the issue but has received no response as yet. One STA member listed in the header of the communication asked not to be mentioned andย pv magazineย is yet to receive a response from any of the other members listed in the open letter which it has contacted.
Author: Marian Willuhn
This article was originally published in pv magazine and is republished with permission.