Nextracker Inc. (Nasdaq: NXT), a global market leader in utility-scale solar trackers, and MSS Steel Tubes USA, a joint venture of Metalogalva and Soufer, today announced the commissioning of a new Tennessee factory to manufacture low-carbon steel components for Nextracker’s solar tracking systems. The Memphis-based facility will manufacture Nextracker steel torque tubes, creating 129 jobs and generating millions of dollars in local economic investment.
“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—which pioneered utility-scale solar in the Southeast—is developing many of those projects, having signed a supply agreement for 1.5 gigawatts with Nextracker last year, and another new 3 gigawatt 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 on May 18th 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’s collaboration with MSS Steel Tubes USA underscores the Tennessee Valley’s growth as a regional manufacturing hub for the Southeast. As more companies seek to locate their manufacturing capacity in the U.S., Nextracker has already delivered gigawatts of U.S.-made products to solar developers. Today’s announcement shows that Nextracker stands ready for the next generation of utility-scale projects in the Southeast with products manufactured in the Tennessee Valley.
