Germany-headquartered inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology has opened its new Gigawatt Factory in Niestetal, Germany, expanding its manufacturing capacity for utility-scale energy technologies.
The facility covers approximately 495,000 square feet, with around 221,000 square feet of floor space. SMA said the factory represents an investment of approximately €80 million (US$92 million).
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The factory will manufacture technologies for utility-scale solar PV, battery energy storage systems (BESS), hybrid energy systems, hydrogen applications and data centres, according to the company.
“Energy infrastructure is becoming more critical, more interconnected and more sophisticated, and that changes what customers need from their technology partners,” said Jay Arghestani, managing director of sales, technology and marketing for Large Scale at SMA America.
“For our customers in the US, investments like the Gigawatt Factory strengthen the global foundation behind the solutions we deliver here. We are preparing for a market where the need for power is growing quickly, particularly as data centres and other large loads come online and customers need infrastructure that can scale without compromising reliability or security.”
Moreover, the manufacturer is working with partners with a presence in the US—including Italian substation manufacturer CEP, which operates a facility in Arkansas—to increase local integration and strengthen supply-chain resilience for US customers. The company is combining those activities with its global manufacturing and engineering operations to serve utilities, renewable energy developers, data-centre operators and other large electricity users.
The new facility forms part of a broader manufacturing and engineering strategy intended to respond to changing customer requirements and strengthen its position in strategic markets.
SMA expanded its Large Scale and Project Solutions business last month to target the fast-growing data centre market. The company unveiled a portfolio of power infrastructure solutions for AI and hyperscale data centre applications.
At the time, SMA CEO Jürgen Reinert also identified data centres and AI as key growth areas in the company’s first-half results, which reported a year-on-year increase in sales and earnings. The company said its inverters sold since 2006 represent around 156GW of capacity.
