US headquartered Enphase Energy has begun local microinverter production with its contract manufacturing partner Flex at the latter's Columbia, South Carolina factory. US President Joe Biden said this is part of over $60 million investment from the company encouraged by the government's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
According to the White House, Enphase is investing more than $60 million to open 6 new manufacturing lines in the US. Of these, 2 lines will be located in South Carolina with Flex.
Enphase said this is the 1st production from one of its 3 contract manufacturing partnerships in the US from where it has now started initial shipments of the Enphase IQ microinverters. The company estimates nearly $20 million in capital investment per manufacturing facility in the US, representing a total of $60 million, in addition to significant capital investments from its contract manufacturing partners.
All 3 fabs will enable Enphase to roll out 4.5 million microinverters/quarter or 18 million microinverters/year.
Back in October 2022 when Enphase announced plans to venture into US manufacturing, Roth Capital Partners said the 6 lines represent between 4.8 GW AC to 7.8 GW AC capacity (see Enphase Energy To Open Manufacturing Lines In US).
Announcing the Enphase production at the Columbia fab, Biden said, "Jobs that used to go to Mexico, India, Romania, and China are now coming home to South Carolina. Now Enphase is partnering with Flex to make these parts here in South Carolina. And today, they're shipping their first microinverters made in America."
Biden touted that since his coming into power, the country has seen more than 60 domestic manufacturing announcements across the solar supply chain. He also said he will be there for the groundbreaking of one of the biggest fabs in Dalton, Georgia, most possibly referring to Hanwha Solutions' 8.4 GW integrated PV production in the state (see Hanwha Solutions Planning 8.4 GW US Production Capacity).
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