The factory, owned by Unimacts and located near Las Vegas, will produce steel components exclusively for Nextracker, bringing the tracker specialist’s annual domestic solar tracker capacity to more than 30 GW.
Nextracker has announced its second steel torsion tube factory with Unimacts, a specialist in industrial manufacturing and supply chain solutions.
Like the first Nextracker/Unimacts partnership, this factory will be located in Sloan, Nevada, near Las Vegas. This factory will also be owned by Unimacts, with all steel components produced exclusively for Nextracker, bringing the tracker specialist’s annual domestic solar tracker capacity to more than 30 GW.
The steel torsion tubes produced in the new 160,000-square-foot facility will be used to hold and rotate solar panels in large-scale solar power plants. The two plants will produce enough torsion tubes to supply more than 2 GW of new solar energy each year, equivalent to the energy used by 400,000 U.S. homes.
With this new factory, Nextracker has now opened or expanded more than 20 US manufacturing facilities as of 2021, including new or expanded dedicated production lines in the US. The tracker specialist locates factories near its target markets with the aim of reducing time and costs for its customers. The Unimacts plant will produce steel components for Nextracker’s solar power plants, primarily in Nevada and the southwestern states.
Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, solar developers have been targeting US-made content for solar power plants to qualify for the domestic content bonus credit. To qualify, all steel and iron used in projects must be manufactured entirely in the U.S., with the exception of certain metallurgical processes related to steel additives. This especially applies to building materials used for racks, trackers and foundation components that anchor solar panels.
“American manufacturing has quickly become the heartbeat of the clean energy revolution,” said Dan Shugar, founder and CEO of Nextracker. “There is a trifecta of perfect conditions for this manufacturing renaissance: a great workforce, a large local clean steel industry and strong demand for renewable energy. Over the past three years, Nextracker has operationalized more than twenty factories, creating thousands of jobs. This is what growth and scaling up look like.”
In addition to providing solar developers with even more tax benefits, domestically produced materials are an economic engine, bringing good jobs to local communities. American Clean Power estimates that the IRA will help create 550,000 new clean energy jobs – more than doubling the current clean energy workforce. As a result, the clean energy industry will directly support a workforce of nearly one million Americans by 2030.
“Today’s announcement is a great example of clean energy fueling an American manufacturing renaissance in Nevada and across the United States. Creating and expanding supply chains here at home strengthens America’s energy security, creates good-paying jobs and stimulates the economy. These new manufacturing facilities also illustrate the key role of American technology in creating a clean, reliable and affordable grid,” said Jason Grumet, CEO of American Clean Power.
In addition to making torsion tubes for the solar industry, Unimacts also makes solar poles and drives for trackers, wind turbine components and other industrial products.
“The federal stimulus allows us to confidently invest in American manufacturing, create manufacturing jobs in Nevada and grow in the local economy,” said Alan Hayes, CEO of Unimacts. “Having inaugurated our first Nevada solar component manufacturing facility in Las Vegas just nine months ago, we are pleased to once again partner with the Nextracker team, expand clean energy manufacturing capacity and contribute to local jobs.”
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