Grading work begins at proposed Tesla solar factory site in Texas, with $10.1 billion investment
Key Facts
Cleanup and grading have begun on the land earmarked for the proposed Crystal Sun project in Fort Bend County, Texas, according to a site report by Texas Construction Hub. Aerial footage recorded on November 8 and published on November 9 showed cleared and graded land and equipment being prepared at the site. But the report did not confirm that Tesla had officially begun building the factory, so the visible work indicates site preparation and does not prove construction of the facility has started. The proposed project is valued at $10.1 billion, according to the same report. Fort Bend’s selection for the project remains a condition tied to the expected schedule for the start of commercial operations.
The plan, as described in Electrek’s coverage of the incentives application, goes beyond manufacturing panels in a single stage; it describes an integrated facility that includes production of ingots and wafers, followed by cell coating, metallization and testing. These stages place the project within the scope of manufacturing a chain of solar components, from raw materials to cells and modules. However, the published description does not establish that the facility will produce finished panels, nor does it settle whether the plan will be carried out as proposed. The $10.1 billion figure remains tied to the project as stated in the site-work report, rather than to investment confirmed as spent or completed. These details come as the final site is still under consideration, according to project documents cited by the Houston Chronicle.
An economic impact study prepared by Kroll estimates that the project would add about $107 billion to Texas’ gross domestic product and generate $6.4 billion in state and local tax revenue over 38 years. Both figures are cumulative estimates covering the project period, not expected annual returns. The span of the estimates makes their impact contingent on the project continuing and operating according to the assumptions underlying the study. The figures show the potential economic scale of the initiative, but remain estimates in an impact study of a proposed project. The site-work report did not confirm that factory construction had officially begun, while other documents tied the operating date to the selection of Fort Bend.
The proposed plan places the Texas project within a broader effort announced by Tesla to expand solar manufacturing in the United States. In February 2026, Reuters reported that a company job posting set a target of deploying 100 gigawatts of solar manufacturing capacity on U.S. soil before the end of 2028. Seth Winger, Tesla’s senior director of solar product engineering, described the project in a LinkedIn post as an “audacious, ambitious project.” Reuters quoted an analyst at TD Cowen as saying those targets were “more ambitious than likely for the U.S. solar supply chain in the medium term.” Reuters also reported that Tesla was considering multiple sites for solar cell production, and that expanding output at the Buffalo factory was part of the plan.
The gap between U.S. manufacturing capacity for modules and cells highlights the challenge facing the expansion plan. Reuters, citing the Solar Energy Industries Association, reported that U.S. capacity stood at 65 gigawatts for solar module manufacturing, compared with 3.2 gigawatts for cells in February 2026. In this context, Bloomberg reported that Tesla’s Buffalo factory could reach 10 gigawatts under the company’s plan, citing people familiar with the matter. Tesla acquired the Buffalo factory through its purchase of SolarCity in 2016, and Panasonic, its manufacturing partner at the time, left the project in 2020. Tesla also used the facility to produce chargers and solar roof tiles, Reuters reported.
In the market, Tesla shares closed at $379.78 in the November 10, 2026 session, according to EL7 data. This is the reported daily closing price for the stock under the ticker TSLA, with no verified data here on the session high or low. The closing-price data do not link the share move to site-preparation work in Fort Bend, so the only confirmed information is the price recorded that day. For the project, commercial operations are expected to begin in the first quarter of 2029 if Fort Bend is selected, according to project application documents cited by the Houston Chronicle. That date remains conditional on the selection, while the site report did not confirm an official construction start.