I am working on an American Reinvestment and Recovery Act - ARRA solar project and want to use Fronius inverters.   Are Fronius inverters ARRA complient?  Are they made in America or do they qualify as made in the USA so that they can be used on projects funded with ARRA funding? 

Comments

Hey Jeff,

As far as I know the Fronius inverters are manufactured and assembled in Austria. Some sources say that Fronius inverters are 'Buy America' compliant because Austria qualifies as a designated country according to Trade aggreements. 

But I believe that such information is misleading.
In order to qualify for ARRA, there should be "a change in the character or use of the good" or "processes complex and meaningful" in the USA.

Here is a list of ARRA compliant inverters that I've found on the internet:

Enphase Energy – Equipment is manufactured outside of the US; but they are qualified ARRA.

Exeltech – Equipment is manufactured 100% in Fort Worth, Texas.

Power-One – With a new manufacturing facility in Phoenix, Arizona, all Power-One products manufactured there are ARRA-eligible.

PV Powered – PV Powered is an American company and manufacturer. They assert they are fully compliant with the Buy American Act.

SMA – All Sunny Boy inverters, ranging from 3 kW to 7 kW, are assembled in Denver, Colorado. Other SMA products, like Sunny Central and Sunny Island inverters, will also start to be assembled in Denver.

Satcon – With its corporate headquarters, inverter design and manufacturing facility in Boston, Massachusetts, Satcon satisfies the “Buy American” provision.

Solectria – All three-phase central inverters (PVI 10 kW through PVI 95kW and SGI 225 kW through SGI 500 KW), auxiliary string combiners, and the SolrenView web-based monitoring gateway are ARRA-eligible.

Submitted
13 years 9 months ago
Asked by
Jeff Ramsay