Advanced Energy Industries will consolidate its Bend solar-inverter manufacturing with its inverter-making operations in Fort Collins, Colo., where the company is based.

News of the consolidation surfaced Tuesday morning when Advanced Energy executives held a conference call with analysts to announce the company’s purchase of REFUsol Holding, a German inverter maker. Advanced Energy began operations in Bend when it bought PV Powered in 2010.

The purchase of the German company allows Advanced Energy to speed up some cost-cutting measures the company began in 2011, Danny Herron, executive vice president and chief financial officer, told analysts on the conference call.

“In particular, we are consolidating our factory in Bend, Oregon, into our Fort Collins facility,” Herron said. The information was also included in a document on Advanced Energy’s website.

Herron was not available for comment later Tuesday, the company said, because he was in Germany. Spokeswoman Annie Leschin said only a small portion of the Bend workforce will be affected by the change, but she could not provide a figure.

“It’s just the manufacturing,” she said. “The company is definitely committed to Bend. They are investing in certain areas like (research and development), marketing and customer service. There are very important projects going on there.”

The company employed about 115 people in Bend as of last year, according to a 2012 survey by Economic Development for Central Oregon.

Along with Bend and Fort Collins, the company makes inverters — devices that convert DC power produced by the solar panels into alternating current, or AC — in Ontario, Canada, and Shenzhen, China, according to its 2012 annual report.

It added to its inverter-making capacity with the purchase of REFUsol, the German inverter maker. Advanced Energy paid 59 million euros for the company, along with assuming 9 million euros in debt and other considerations, officials said Tuesday.

When it bought PV Powered for $90 million three years ago, Advanced Energy picked up one of Bend’s marquee companies.

In its first seven years, PV Powered became involved in government research programs and high-profile projects, such as the nation’s first solar installation on a highway right of way. The project, at the Interstate 5-205 interchange south of Portland, powers the lights at the interchange.

The company entered the national political spotlight in 2008 when then-presidential candidate Barack Obama visited its Bend office. The visit made an impression on the future president. Ten months later, while promoting his renewable energy agenda in a speech, Obama held out the company as an example.

In August 2011, a new CEO, Garry Rogerson, took over Advanced Energy. Within a month, he announced cost-cutting measures.

Gregg Patterson, the former PV Powered CEO who guided the company through the purchase, resigned in October 2011, and two months later, Advanced Energy said it would lay off an unspecified number of employees in Bend.