Project Crystal Sun

Project Crystal Sun
Location	Fort Bend County, Texas, United States
Coordinates	29°26′13″N 95°42′31″W / 29.43694°N 95.70861°W / 29.43694; -95.70861
Industry	Photovoltaics
Products	Solar cells, Solar panels
Owner	Tesla, Inc.

Project Crystal Sun is a planned vertically integrated manufacturing complex for solar modules being developed by Tesla in Fort Bend County, Texas. The plant is to output solar modules, producing components from silicon ingots and solar wafers to finished cells and panels, with operations targeted for Q1 2029. Tesla projects 9,712 permanent jobs by 2033.

Development

In August 2026, Tesla filed for a $10.1 billion solar cell factory in Fort Bend County in the Greater Houston metropolitan area, under the codename "Project Crystal Sun", according to a tax-incentive application posted by the Texas Comptroller.

Tesla has not provided information about the factory's production capacity or the intended applications of its products. According to Heise, applications on Earth are plausible, while "it is also possible that they are intended for use in space", for example for SpaceX's Starlink or Starmind satellites. The article references the Terafab project under joint development by Tesla and SpaceX since March 2026.

In November 2026, it was announced Tesla had begun earthworks on the roughly 3,000-acre site in Fort Bend County.

Electrek commented the planned fully vertically integrated "ingot-to-module" production process as "rare in the US. Most domestic 'solar manufacturing' is module assembly using cells imported from Asia" and described it as "raw polysilicon in one end and finished cells and modules out the other".

References