(Bloomberg) -- Enphase Energy Inc., which makes components that convert sun-based electricity into usable energy, plans to add its first manufacturing capacity in Europe by year-end as it works to meet demand in the region.
The new facility would be capable of producing as many as 750,000 microinverters per quarter, Chief Executive Officer Badri Kothandaraman said Tuesday, without specifying possible locations. That would be in addition to 5 million microinverters the Fremont, California-based company now gets each quarter from facilities in China, Mexico and India.
The move comes as companies around the world deal with a supply-chain crunch that’s led to increased costs. Making products near customers can limit the air shipments done to avoid delays.
“It was simple for us: make sure that raw materials fly to Europe instead of microinverters,” Kothandaraman said in an interview.
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The European facility will be run by a contractor that makes the product for Enphase. The company expects to select the contractor by the end of March, and have a plant up and running within nine months, Kothandaraman said.
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