President Joe Biden touted energy technology manufacturer Enphase Energy’s plans to invest over $60 million in six new manufacturing lines in the U.S. during the latest stop on his Investing in America tour on Thursday in West Columbia, South Carolina.
Biden was in the state to tout his national manufacturing plan and discuss Enphase’s opening of a contract manufacturing facility. The site is owned and operated by contract manufacturer Flex, and on Wednesday shipped its first solar energy microinverters, used to convert generated energy to usable electricity.
The production between Enphase and Flex is expected to add an estimated 600 jobs in the state.
“Jobs that used to go to Mexico, India, Romania, and China are now coming home to South Carolina,” Biden said during his remarks.
The energy equipment manufacturer plans to add three manufacturing facilities in the U.S., each estimated at nearly $20 million in capital investments. Enphase has yet to announce locations for the two additional plants.
Enphase’s expanded manufacturing capacity will allow it to produce 4.5 million microinverters per quarter, or 18 million units a year, which could power one million solar homes annually.
“We’re creating jobs here and exporting American product,” the president said. “Product, not jobs. That’s the story here in South Carolina.”
The energy technology maker credited the Inflation Reduction Act with helping it to begin manufacturing in the U.S.
“Enphase is proud to be a leader in expanding the domestic manufacturing of clean energy products while bringing back high-technology jobs and supporting the growth of our business,” Badri Kothandaraman, president and CEO of Enphase Energy, said in a statement.
Enphase’s three manufacturing plants are expected to create an estimated 1,800 job total, including workers to operate manufacturing lines, corporate functions and contract manufacturing partners, contract workers managing logistics and suppliers.
During his remarks, Biden lauded the IRA and the CHIPS and Science Act for boosting domestic manufacturing, including incentivizing semiconductor companies to invest billions in production.
The president called out recent pushes to bring battery and semiconductor manufacturing to U.S. soil, including Intel’s construction of a $20 billion plant near Columbus, Ohio, and Micron Technologies’s plans to invest up to $100 billion in a chip facility in Clay, New York.
“[The] Investing in America agenda is about bringing supply chains home,” he said. “Our goal is to bring the full battery supply chain home.”
