Enphase expands Christchurch R&D facility

Enphase Energy has made a US$4.4 million investment to expand its global research and development (R&D) facility in Christchurch, New Zealand. The new facility will be Enphase’s second largest office outside the company’s headquarters in California and has the capacity to allow for future expansion.

Opened today by New Zealand Minister of Science and Innovation Steven Joyce, the Christchurch engineering location will integrate Enphase’s existing office and engineering facilities. The facility will allow Enphase to conduct global compliance testing and verification capabilities for its microinverters and expand on the future development of the Enphase AC Battery, a modular energy storage system that integrates with the Enphase Home Energy Solution.

“Over the years, our engineering team in Christchurch has strategically contributed toward the design, development and testing of Enphase microinverters sold in Asia–Pacific and Europe,” said Greg Steele, vice president of engineering at Enphase. “By making a further investment in New Zealand, Enphase is now poised for future growth as we continue to build a world-class engineering team that will work in tandem with the team in California to develop future generations of the Enphase Home Energy Solution.”

“New Zealand is an important market for the Enphase Home Energy Solution,” added Nathan Dunn, managing director for Enphase Energy Asia–Pacific. “As a country with a significant proportion of renewable energy in its grid electricity, relatively low solar uptake and a tremendous desire for energy independence, we’ve observed a keen interest from New Zealanders in the upcoming launch of our home energy solution.”

Enphase plans to expand its New Zealand engineering workforce by 35% by the fourth quarter 2016 and expects to draw on its relationship with the University of Canterbury in order to recruit employees.