Enphase recently unveiled a microinverter factory in West Columbia, South Carolina, through a relationship with Flex.
The plant was made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which aims to curb inflation by reducing the federal government budget deficit, lowering prescription drug prices, and investing in domestic energy production while promoting clean energy.
The new plant will initially manufacture Enphase’s new IQ8 microinverter for the U.S. market.
The IQ8 microinverter is the smartest, most powerful microinverter yet for Enphase, with a 97.2 percent efficiency score based on European Union efficiency standards.
The new plant is in the congressional district of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who is much against clean energy.
The Flex facility is one of three U.S. manufacturing hubs set to come online for Enphase in 2023. When all operations are running, Enphase expects a capacity of 4.8- to 7.2-GWac of U.S. microinverters per year.
Enphase is also shipping its first US-made microinverters from its first US contract manufacturing facility, Austin-headquartered Flex’s South Carolina factory. With all three facilities, Enphase expects to have the capacity to produce 4.5 million microinverters per quarter – or 18 million microinverters per year.
That manufacturing capacity will enable 1 million new solar homes annually in the US.
Enphase cites the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as the reason it’s been able to kickstart its US manufacturing.
Companies have announced $11 billion in manufacturing and clean energy investments in South Carolina as a result of the IRA, and the Biden-Harris Administration has already awarded $2.6 billion in funding there for infrastructure projects.
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