GW Scale Factory For Microinverters In Germany

Frankfurt, Germany based start-up that claims to be the world’s ‘smallest’ inverter developer, Solarnative will undertake a manufacturing project to install GW scale smart solar microinverter factory in the country using surface mount technology (SMT) production line from Juki Automation Systems.

Founded by Henk Oldenkamp and Mattheis in 2019, Solarnative provides modular, wireless plug-and-play system for solar systems promising yield higher than standard PV systems. Its Powerstick INV-350 microinverter was nominated for an award at the Intersolar (see Compact Micro-Inverter From Solarnative).

The Smart Gigafactory is scheduled to be ramped up to produce high-frequency microinverters from May 2023 in Hofheim am Taunus for an investment of €1 million. Solarnative plans to expand it over the next few years to exceed 1 GW annual production capacity.

Juki will customize its production line to suit Solarnative’s requirement of SMT equipment including customizing the handling, glue dispensing processes and also soldering requirements.

According to information available on electronics manufacturing magazine SMT Today, Solarnative will expand the line in Q3/2023 with another €0.5 million to increase the capacity by 50%, with further investments planned for Q2/2024 with production support from Juki.

Solarnative is being supported in realizing this vision by SMT Renting as its financial partner.

“Through SMT Renting we can avoid high CAPEX since the monthly lease cost are booked as operational expenses. This way we can keep the money in the company, which is needed for our fast growth,” shared Solarnative CEO Julian Mattheis. “Furthermore, we see that the technology is changing rapidly, and we expect the equipment to be upgraded or replaced within the next few years.”