Nextpower, formerly Nextracker, will double its steel solar tracker manufacturing capacity in Tennessee and has established a new “regional hub” in the Southeast United States.
The company, which produces solar trackers and has expanded into other balance of system offerings reflected in its recent rebranding, will add a new fabrication line at its Memphis, Tennessee steel fabrication facility operated by MSS Steel Tubes USA.
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The site, which was opened in May 2023, produces low-carbon steel torque tubes for Nextpower’s solar trackers, to be deployed at its projects contracted across the Southeast US.
The company said the tubes produced at the expanded facility will support a portfolio of projects developed and operated by Tennessee-based independent power producer (IPP) Silicon Ranch across Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
“In our first 15 years, Silicon Ranch installed more than 4 gigawatts of solar energy capacity—one of the largest operating fleets in the United States—and we will double that figure over the next three years,” said Reagan Farr, CEO of Silicon Ranch.
Echoing language used in one of President Trump’s inauguration day executive orders, Farr continued: “Nextpower’s expansion in Tennessee helps us do so while enabling us to support additional investments in domestic manufacturing; this is what ‘unleashing American energy’ looks like.”
“The Southeast has entered a new era of energy infrastructure,” said Dan Shugar, CEO of Nextpower. “This new US manufacturing line with our partner MSS not only doubles our Memphis factory production capacity for solar trackers, but it also helps our customers scale projects faster, brings new American jobs, and strengthens our supply chain.”
Nextpower has established one of the broadest US supply chains in the country’s solar industry. Through a flurry of acquisitions of racking foundation firms, an electrical balance of system (eBOS) company, AI and robotics software and steel module frame producer Origami Solar, in addition to its market-leading tracker production, the company has positioned itself as a major feature of the US solar landscape. The rebrand from Nextracker to Nextpower reflects this widening business model.
The company will also open a Southeast regional hub in Nashville, Tennessee, which will include a Remote Monitoring Centre, which Nextpower said will allow engineers at the Nashville offices to view and monitor its trackers at projects worldwide.
