Commercial production is targeted for the first quarter of 2029 if Tesla picks the Texas site, wins incentives, and clears permits. Tesla has not disclosed annual gigawatt output, so any panel-count figure is an estimate, not an official number.
The internal name is Project Crystal Sun. The public paper trail is a Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation (JETI) application, file J0050, with Lamar Consolidated ISD and the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. It was signed July 22, 2026, posted August 6, and later supplemented on August 14 and August 20.
Tesla has not issued a standalone press release announcing the plant. A company spokesperson did not comment when asked. The closest official Tesla language is in the Q2 2026 shareholder update and Form 10-Q: site work and equipment procurement for solar manufacturing “progressed,” and the company is “developing our solar manufacturing.” CFO Vaibhav Taneja said on the earnings call that Tesla intends to multiply U.S. solar manufacturing “by an order of magnitude.”
What Tesla actually put on paper
The application describes a solar-cell manufacturing campus on portions of five parcels totaling about 3,050 acres near Richmond / Needville, along FM 762 and FM 1994 in Fort Bend County, southwest of Houston…