esla’s proposed $10.1 billion solar cell and module manufacturing facility in Texas has cleared a major local regulatory hurdle following a unanimous vote by a Houston-area school board.
The board of trustees for the Lamar Consolidated Independent School District (Lamar CISD) voted 7-0 to approve a property tax incentive agreement for the clean energy project. Code-named Project Crystal Sun, the application outlines a 1,234-hectare factory site near Richmond in Fort Bend County. The filing was prepared by consulting firm Kroll and signed on July 22 before surfacing publicly in early August.
The school district’s approval provides Tesla with a temporary valuation limitation under the state’s Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation (JETI) Act. The agreement provides a 10-year property tax limitation on the taxable value of eligible property for school district maintenance and operations purposes from 2029 through 2038, addressing a key site-selection requirement Tesla outlined in its filings.
If executed as planned, the development would mark the largest single manufacturing investment Tesla has proposed on paper. Public documents filed with the state confirm a $10.1 billion total capital commitment, which includes $1.5 billion in real property alongside $8.6 billion in manufacturing equipment and personal property. Tesla projects that the plant will create 9,712 permanent full-time positions once fully operational, along with 1,147 peak construction jobs.
The filing details a fully vertically integrated solar cell and module production stack. Equipment lists submitted with the application include machinery for ingot pulling, wafer slicing, chemical coating, metallization, printing lines, cleanroom systems, and automated material handling. The $8.6 billion earmarked specifically for manufacturing equipment reflects high-volume automated cell and wafer lines rather than simple downstream module assembly.
While a large portion of historical U.S. solar manufacturing additions have centered on module assembly using imported cells, Project Crystal Sun would bring cell and wafer fabrication directly onto domestic soil. The move aligns with previously stated ambitions by Tesla leadership to establish massive domestic solar supply chain capacity.
Construction is targeted to span from 2026 through 2028, with commercial production scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2029. However, Tesla noted in the paperwork that it is actively evaluating a competing out-of-state site, making the receipt of local tax incentives a key factor in final site selection.
An economic impact analysis attached to the filing estimates that full buildout could contribute $107 billion to Texas gross domestic product and $6.4 billion in state and local tax revenue over a 38-year horizon.
While the tax application for Project Crystal Sun does not specify an exact annual nameplate capacity in gigawatts for the Fort Bend County facility, industry analysts view the $10.1 billion investment as the foundational pillar toward Tesla’s previously stated target of 100 GW of annual domestic solar manufacturing capacity.
For comparison, total U.S. solar module manufacturing capacity across all producers stood at roughly 60 GW as of early 2026, with solar cell manufacturing capacity lagging significantly behind at under 15 GW, though capacity is scaling rapidly.
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