Alencon Systems LLC is pleased to announce the completion of a significant expansion of its state-of-the-art suburban Philadelphia manufacturing and research and development headquarters. The expansion coincides with a doubling of the company’s staff which occurred during 2021, with many of the new hires coming in the company’s manufacturing department.
Alencon exclusively manufactures its industry leading product line of galvanically isolated DC:DC optimizers – the SPOT and BOSS – and related accessory products including the GARD, FEED and PODD, among others, in this facility. Additionally, all engineering and R&D activities are carried out in the same building. As part of this expansion, Alencon has significantly expanded its R&D lab facilities to support the further improvement of its current products and development of new alternative energy power electronics technologies and products. T he expansion also included a number of energy efficiency improvements, including an upgrade to more efficient lighting.
Alencon’s headquarters in Hatboro, Pennsylvania are based just outside of Philadelphia. The facility is strategically located in very close proximity to the area’s main transportation arteries. Alencon’s facility is located one mile from the Pennsylvania Turnpike and a short walk from major public transit hubs including the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) regional rail and commuter bus stations.
“The rapid growth of DC-based clean energy sources and loads such as solar, battery energy storage, electric vehicles and fuel cells have created rapidly increased demand for Alencon’s DC:DC converter products,” says Hanan Fishman, Alencon Systems President. “Alencon is one of very few suppliers of the alternative energy hardware that manufactures its products here in the U.S.”
Figure 1: Alencon Systems recently completed a significant expansion of its suburban Philadelphia manufacturing and research and development facility to support rapid growth in demand for the company’s unique DC:DC converters to support solar, battery energy storage, electric vehicle and fuel cell applications. Pictured on the left is a photo of the company’s new R&D center. The two photos on the right show the companies expanded manufacturing area.
“Making our products here in the U.S. assures we can produce them at the highest level of quality. Additionally, doing so means our products can offer the highest level of cybersecurity features while also making them consistent with the current Administration’s emphasis on domestically manufactured clean energy products.”
Alencon’s manufacturing and R&D facility includes number of unique features, chief amongst which is a dedicated one-megawatt grid connection. Additionally, the facility has a rooftop solar array and over 500 KW of programmable DC power supplies. Alencon’s facility also includes extensive thermal testing capabilities which allows the company to perform accelerated life testing under the harshest real-world conditions to assure the company’s products will meet our customers’ requirements for the life of their alternative energy projects. The factory is a certified UL manufacturing facility which is regularly audited by the nationally recognized testing laboratories (NRTLs) that provide UL certification of the company’s products, including regularly calibrated high power, high voltage test equipment.
“The collocation of our R&D and manufacturing facilities with so much sophisticated test equipment and access to so much power is a real competitive advantage for us,” explains Alencon’s Vice President of Engineering Michael Muhlbaier. “Additionally, being located to so many leading universities such as the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, Rowan University, Princeton University and Temple University among others offers us a great talent base of engineers to draw from to support our growth.”
“Our location offers access to vast labor pool of highly skilled electro-mechanical manufacturing personnel,” explains Matthew Schramm, Alencon’s recently appointed Director of Manufacturing. “With the expansion of our facility, we are implementing best in class manufacturing practices to assure our products are made efficiently, safely and reliably.”
About Alencon
Alencon’s solutions for ALternative ENergy CONversion provide high modularity and scalability for systems from hundres of kilowatts to many megawatts.Alencon’s products are setting a new standard in helping project owners repower existing PV and battery storage plants while allowing developers and EPCs to build new, innovative solar plus storage plants and Microgrids. Alencon has successfully deployed many megawatts of its products in some of the most cutting-edge alternative energy products built to date. Our customers include industry leading utilities, independent power producers (IPPs), engineering, procurement and construction companies (EPCs), battery storage integrators and alternative energy developers.