Power Electronics starts construction on 40 GW U.S. factory

Spanish manufacturer Power Electronics has broken ground on a large factory in Houston, Texas, that will eventually be able to produce up to 40 GW of energy conversion equipment a year. The campus covers about 21 hectares and will include two buildings for manufacturing, logistics, research, training, and offices. The company plans to use automated production lines for making inverters, the devices that convert electricity between the direct current (DC) used by solar panels and batteries and the alternating current (AC) used in homes and the grid.

The plant is expected to create more than 400 jobs and will make equipment for solar power, battery storage, data centers, electric vehicles, and industrial uses, serving the U.S. and other markets in the Americas. Power Electronics is also expanding its existing factory in Valencia, Spain, from 100,000 to 150,000 square meters. Combined, the two sites are expected to push the company's total global manufacturing capacity to 105 GW a year.

For homeowners, this is mainly a sign of the solar and storage industry's growth rather than something that changes costs or rebates right away. More domestic manufacturing of inverters and related equipment could eventually mean shorter supply chains and more U.S.-made options for solar and battery systems, but the article does not mention any changes to pricing, incentives, or availability for homeowners in the near term.