‘Largest solar panel manufacturer in Europe’ chooses Waller County for US expansion

 

A large European solar manufacturer has chosen Waller County for its U.S. expansion.

Ankara, Turkey-based Elin Energy will set up shop in a 225,000-square-foot facility in the Twinwood Business Park by early next year, after the Waller County Commissioners Court approved a tax incentives package last week.

Elin is leasing the property at 2270 Twinwood Parkway from Houston-based Welcome Group and will install new manufacturing equipment over the next 10 years at an estimated cost of $35 million, according to the Commissioners Court agenda item. The county’s tax abatement is on that investment, not the real estate.

The 42-year-old company formed its U.S. subsidiary, Sirius PV USA, for the operation of the plant. Elin plans to create a total of 490 jobs and hire 190 people immediately, Sirius PV USA CEO Ercan Kalafat said.

The plant will have the capacity to manufacture 2,000 megawatts annually, the company said.

“We are excited to welcome Elin Energy to the Waller County community,” County Judge Carbitt “Trey” Duhon III said in a statement. “Having the largest solar panel manufacturer in Europe right here is a great honor.”

Elin made the decision to expand to the United States in January after being invited by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Kalafat told the Commissioners Court.

The company also considered Georgia as a possible location for its first U.S. facility, Kalafat said in an email.

“Ports, trains, qualified work force, business environment, Texas state growth in solar transition and many other factors, such as having direct flight opportunity from Turkey, having a Turkish consulate in Houston etc., guided our decision-making process,” he said, adding that Waller was one of the most welcoming counties.

“Our expansion into Texas represents a significant step towards a cleaner and more sustainable future for the USA,” Elin Energy President Arda Yali said in a statement. “We are dedicated to providing top-quality solar panels to empower the nation with renewable energy solutions.”

The 650-acre Twinwood Business Park, south of Interstate 10 between Waller Avenue and Woods Road, is also home to Germany-based MAN Energy Solutions, which became the park’s first tenant in 2018.

The building to be occupied by Elin was originally designed as a distribution center, Waller County EDP Executive Director Vince Yokom told county commissioners.

“The fact that we’re beginning to see some of these distribution center-type buildings being occupied by manufacturers is actually something we’ve been looking forward to for a while when we started the abatement program,” he said.

The Katy/Fulshear area has been attracting many industrial companies, with developers often mentioning the strategically beneficial location: still in the Houston area, with quick access to the Grand Parkway, but going toward Austin and San Antonio.

Earlier this year, lighting manufacturer US LED Ltd. moved its headquarters from Houston to Cane Island Business Center between Interstate 10 and U.S. Highway 90, behind Buc-ee’s Katy.

On the south side of I-10, Houston-based Investment & Development Ventures LLC just developed the two-warehouse Anserra Business Park.

Farther west, Birmingham, Alabama-based real estate investment firm Growth Capital Partners and Houston-based Phelan-Bennett Development completed Westside 10 Business Park, a 167,120-square-foot warehouse in Brookshire, in February.

In fall 2021, Danish water pump technology company Grundfos completed its new U.S. headquarters in Brookshire.

Perhaps most notably, Austin-based electric-car maker Tesla Inc. (Nasdaq: TSLA) last fall leased a 1.04 million-square-foot building in the Empire West Business Park in Brookshire.

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