El Salvador · CAFTA-DR Gateway · Solar PV Manufacturing

Solar's Balance of System.

PV cable assemblies, MC4-compatible harnesses, branch connectors, and disconnect boxes — manufactured in El Salvador, delivered duty-free to the United States under CAFTA-DR.

0%
US Import Duty
MC4
Overmolded Connectors
100%
Electrically Tested
Scroll
PV Cable Assemblies  ·  Branch Connectors  ·  Disconnect Boxes  ·  Inline Fuses  ·  PV Jumpers  ·  CAFTA-DR Duty-Free  ·  Made in El Salvador  · 
Our Mission

The components that turn panels into power plants.

Altus Energy manufactures the balance-of-system components that connect, combine, protect, and disconnect utility-scale and commercial solar arrays — built in El Salvador and shipped duty-free to the United States under CAFTA-DR.

Integrated PV production under one roof: wire processing, overmolding, crimping, ultrasonic welding, final assembly, and 100% electrical test — delivering MC4-compatible cable assemblies, branch connectors, inline fuses, jumpers, and disconnect boxes to solar developers across the Americas.

What We Build

Solar’s essentials.
Built to spec.

01

PV Cable Assemblies

Single-conductor solar whips and pigtails with overmolded MC4-compatible male and female connectors. Red (+) and black (−) polarity. 10 AWG XLPE PV cable, UV- and weather-rated. Cut, stripped, crimped, molded, and sealed on integrated lines.

02

Branch Connectors (T / Y)

Three-port T-branch and two-to-one Y-branch connectors with ultrasonic-welded copper joints and overmolded, UV-resistant thermoplastic housings. Ribbed strain-relief boots at every cable exit. Designed for in-array combining.

03

PV Inline Fuses

Overmolded inline fuse holders for string-level overcurrent protection. Molded on vertical IMM cells for repeatable fit, sealing, and cable retention. Paired with MC4-style connector ends for drop-in integration.

04

Set-Screw Connectors

Pigtail set-screw connector assemblies for trunk-cable tap-in. Factory-torqued on custom jigs for consistent clamping force. Built for field-installable, tool-free serviceability across large-scale solar arrays.

05

PV Jumper Cables

Fully-terminated, both-ends-overmolded PV jumpers produced on automated jumper lines. Dust caps applied on both connector ends. Precision lengths for module-to-module, module-to-combiner, and combiner-to-inverter runs.

06

100% Electrical Test

Continuity, hi-pot, and pull-force testing on every assembly — first-piece and every 100th crimp gauged. Dedicated QC with explicit stop-line authority. Full drawing-level traceability from reel to shipping carton.

07

Disconnect Boxes & Final Assembly

NEMA-rated enclosure assemblies integrating DIN rail, breakers, contactors, fuse holders, and disconnect handles with pre-crimped, color-coded leads (red / black / green) terminated with ring terminals and ferrules. Scalable from four assembly benches to eight, targeting 5,000 units per month.

Quality

Quality is not a department. It is a discipline.

Altus operates a ISO 9001:2015-aligned quality system with connector programs on the path to UL 6703 and IEC 62852 listings. Every shift runs with a dedicated QC inspector holding explicit stop-line authority. Ultrasonic-welding operators are dedicated specialists, not rotating labor. Manufacturing Engineers own mold changes, PLC diagnostics, and preventive maintenance. Workmanship follows IPC / WHMA-A-620, raw materials are RoHS and REACH compliant, and the CAFTA-DR origin rule is documented per shipment. This is how we deliver PV assemblies that perform in the field for twenty-five years.

ISO 9001:2015Quality System
UL 6703PV Connectors
IEC 62852PV DC Coupler
RoHS / REACHCompliant
UL-1072MV Cable Ready
CSA C68.10Aligned
IPC / WHMAA-620 Workmanship
100%Electrical Test
Who We Serve

Built for
solar.

01

Utility-Scale PV

Module-to-combiner whips, in-array branch connectors, and inline fuses for large ground-mount solar farms. Built for twenty-five-year field life under sun, heat, humidity, and wind loading.

02

Commercial & Industrial

Rooftop and carport PV balance-of-system. Jumpers, harnesses, and disconnect boxes sized for commercial inverter strings and landlord-grade installation crews.

03

EPC Partners

Kitted, labeled, and project-coded assemblies for engineering-procurement-construction firms who need the right harness on the right row on the right day — not a warehouse full of guessing.

04

Distribution & OEM

Private-label and co-branded PV BOS production for distributors and solar OEMs. Manufactured to your drawing, your connector system, your part numbers — with full traceability.

05

BESS & Energy Storage

DC interconnect harnesses, battery-to-inverter leads, and disconnect-box assemblies for battery energy storage systems co-located with PV generation.

06

Repair & Replacement

Replacement PV whips, jumpers, and disconnect components for O&M crews servicing aging arrays. Fast-turn production on the same lines as our new-build programs.

Strategic Advantage

Your gateway to duty-free US access.

Under the Dominican Republic–Central America–United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), PV cable assemblies and harnesses manufactured in El Salvador enter the United States duty-free under HTS classification 8544 — provided the tariff shift rule is met.

Altus Energy’s sourcing and manufacturing strategy is designed to qualify: PV cable and raw materials from CAFTA-DR and NAFTA-origin suppliers, with substantial transformation performed in El Salvador. The result is a supply chain that is both cost-competitive and tariff-free into the largest solar market in the Americas.

3–10
days
Ocean transit to US ports
CST
timezone
Same as US Central
8544
HTS Code
Duty-Free to US
Why El Salvador

The new nearshore.
Built for solar.

Mexico is saturated. China is priced out. Domestic US capacity can’t scale fast enough to meet the solar decade. El Salvador sits at the intersection of duty-free US access, USD-denominated stability, and a modern industrial workforce — and Altus is the solar-BOS anchor in that new nearshore.

01

Duty-Free to the Largest Solar Market

CAFTA-DR routes HTS 8544 product into the United States at zero tariff. While China tier faces Section 301 duties, AD/CVD reviews, and UFLPA holds, Altus ships clean CAFTA-DR origin with documented tariff-shift compliance on every invoice.

02

USD Economy. Zero FX Risk.

El Salvador has operated on the US dollar since 2001. Purchase orders, payroll, and raw-material invoices all settle in the same currency as the customer — no peso / yuan / lempira volatility to price into quotes or hedge against.

03

Free Trade Zone Fiscal Stack

El Salvador’s Free Trade Zone regime delivers 0% import duty on raw materials, 0% income tax on export revenue, 0% municipal tax, and 0% real-estate transfer tax — backed by the Ley de Zonas Francas and the 2026 Investment Expansion Law. 100% foreign ownership permitted.

04

One Time Zone From HQ

El Salvador runs on Central Standard Time. Engineering calls, PPAP reviews, and production handoffs happen in business hours — no overnight delays, no week-behind email threads, no ‘wait for Monday in Shenzhen.’

05

Short-Haul Ocean Routes

El Salvador’s Pacific and Atlantic-facing logistics network reaches the three largest US solar corridors — Los Angeles / Long Beach, Houston, and Port Everglades — on 3 to 10 day ocean transit. Faster than transpacific, no canal exposure, and closer to the job site than any other low-tariff origin.

06

Workforce, Trainable and Available

A young manufacturing workforce with loaded cost roughly one-third of Mexico border labor, English-proficient technical leadership, INSAFORP-funded industrial and electrical vocational programs in-country, and a government actively routing talent into nearshoring investments.

07

Policy Tailwind · Stable Operating Environment

Foreign direct investment is national policy under the current administration. The Secretaría de Comercio e Inversiones is a direct point of contact. El Salvador’s homicide rate has fallen to the lowest in the Western Hemisphere outside of Canada, and permits now move on week timelines rather than year timelines — a material advantage for foreign manufacturers evaluating Latin American operations.

08

A True Second Source for the Americas

For customers already running domestic US production under Buy America / BABA, Altus is the complementary cost-sensitive lane for utility-scale programs, LATAM export, and China-exit volume. One supply chain, two geographies, zero tariff friction on either end.

Altus vs. the World

The cost of the wrong supply chain.

Procurement teams don’t just compare unit price — they compare landed cost, risk exposure, and total cycle time. On every one of those axes, El Salvador wins against the traditional low-cost geographies.

Factor Altus · El Salvador China Turkey India
Landed US tariff 0% under CAFTA-DR (HTS 8544) 25–50%+ Section 301 · AD/CVD · UFLPA holds Base MFN + solar-sector safeguards Base MFN + GSP uncertainty
Ocean transit to US 3–10 days ocean to LA / Houston / Everglades 25–40 days transpacific + West Coast dwell 18–28 days via Suez / East Coast 28–40 days via Suez / Cape
Time-zone offset from US HQ 0 hours from Central Time 12–13 hours · opposite business day 7–8 hours · half-day overlap 9.5–10.5 hours · one-hour overlap
Settlement currency US Dollar (dollarized since 2001) CNY · managed float · capital controls TRY · high-volatility · hedging cost INR · moderate volatility
Forced-labor & origin risk Clean CAFTA-DR origin · documented per shipment UFLPA rebuttable presumption · polysilicon / Xinjiang exposure Transshipment scrutiny on steel / aluminum inputs BIS entity-list exposure on selected suppliers
Air travel from US HQ 3 hours nonstop from MIA / IAH / DFW 16–20 hours + connection 11–14 hours + connection 18–24 hours + connection
Dispute framework CAFTA-DR investor protections · US-aligned contract law PRC courts · limited IP enforcement Turkish commercial law · arbitration common Indian courts · multi-year timelines
China-exit / re-shoring story Clean, defensible to customers & regulators The problem buyers are trying to solve Works, but no CAFTA-DR duty benefit Works, but longer lead times & no tariff benefit

Send us your target SKU, annual volume, and current offshore quote — we will build you a side-by-side landed-cost model (unit price + ocean freight + duty + broker fees + inventory carry) and show you the real number, not the factory line.

Quelepa  ·  San Miguel  ·  El Salvador  ·  Free Trade Zone  ·  HTS 8544 · Duty-Free to the US  · 
About Altus

Manufactured in El Salvador. Engineered for the solar Americas.

24/7
Two-Shift Production
Day and night shifts for demanding lead times
100%
Test Coverage
Every assembly electrically and mechanically validated
7
Production Areas
Integrated under one roof, one team
2×
Scalable Capacity
Production lines designed to double with demand
Contact

Let's build your supply chain.

Whether you are qualifying a new PV balance-of-system supplier, exploring CAFTA-DR duty-free sourcing, or spec’ing a program for a utility-scale project — we would like to hear from you.

General Inquiries
info@altus.com.sv
Business Development
business@altus.com.sv
Location
Quelepa
San Miguel · El Salvador