A new factory in Tennessee officially was unveiled today that will make steel components for Nextracker solar tracking systems. The Memphis-based facility houses MSS Steel Tubes USA, a joint venture of Metalogalva and Soufer, and will manufacture Nextracker steel torque tubes. The site supports 129 jobs.
“We chose Memphis for our first U.S. plant to support Nextracker’s utility-scale solar demand across the Southeast,” said António Pedro Antunes, CEO of Metalogalva Group. “Memphis has the transportation, infrastructure, and capable workforce necessary to support a solar manufacturing program like this.”
Nextracker’s dedicated tube mill will feed projects in Kentucky, South Carolina, Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia. Tennessee-based Silicon Ranch is developing many of those projects, having recently signed a supply agreement for 1.5 GW of trackers with Nextracker, and another new 3-GW supply agreement today.
“Nextracker’s new Tennessee tube mill not only helps us maintain our 100% track record for successful project delivery but also enables us to support additional investments in American manufacturing while lowering carbon production processes of our supply chain, and reducing volatility and logistics risks, all from our home state,” said Reagan Farr, Silicon Ranch co-founder and CEO.
“This is what energy security looks like: New U.S. manufacturing jobs using American-made steel to produce affordable clean energy,” said Dan Shugar, founder and CEO of Nextracker. “Customers want domestic, low-carbon technologies like solar power. We are excited to inaugurate a new dedicated Nextracker manufacturing line in Memphis with MSS Steel Tubes USA, and to continue to team with Silicon Ranch with a new 3-GW multi-year agreement to provide the Tennessee Valley and greater Southeast with our high performing systems.”
Portuguese industrial company Metalogalva Group and Brazilian steelmaker Soufer Group formed MSS Steel Tubes USA to reconfigure a vacant industrial building to manufacture for Nextracker.
Nextracker and MSS Steel Tubes held a ceremony today to dedicate the steel tube line in partnership with Silicon Ranch. The Tennessee Commissioner of Economic Development, Stuart McWhorter, joined the event along with Abby Hopper, the CEO of Solar Energy Industries Association, and David Burritt, CEO of U.S. Steel.
Nextracker products made with American steel are likely to benefit from domestic content bonus credits included in the IRA.
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