Solar Manufacturing Booms in Texas as Washington Softens Its Stance

A ribbon-cutting ceremony in Humble, Texas, this week marked the completion of a new solar module factory owned by TOYO, a Japanese startup that has been rapidly expanding its global footprint. The event drew a high-ranking official from the U.S. Department of Commerce, signaling a notable shift in the federal government’s posture toward solar power after a year of sharply critical energy policy.

The Humble facility is the product of TOYO’s November 2024 acquisition of Houston-based Solar Plus Technology Texas, a move designed to establish a U.S. manufacturing base to complement the company’s existing operations in Vietnam and Ethiopia. The factory has already created roughly 100 production jobs, and TOYO has announced plans to add a co-located solar cell operation that would bring another 400 workers to the site. Local business press has suggested the total could eventually reach about 750 positions.

The political subtext is hard to miss. The administration official on hand framed the investment as a direct outcome of policies aimed at reshoring manufacturing, noting that TOYO has committed to using exclusively U.S.-produced polysilicon — the foundational material for silicon solar cells. That commitment aligns with an August order under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act that set a price floor on imported polysilicon while including incentives for domestic production.

Reaction from the solar industry has been mixed. The Solar Energy Industries Association welcomed the domestic manufacturing incentives but cautioned that tariffs and price floors could raise costs for manufacturers and, ultimately, for households and businesses. The group’s CEO, Tim Pawlenty, said the incentives included in the proclamation may help offset those pressures, though the outcome remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, the broader market tells its own story. Federal data show utility-scale solar generation jumped nearly 34% in 2025 over the prior year, with forecasts pointing to further double-digit growth in 2026 and 2027. Coal, by contrast, continues its long decline, with its share of utility-scale generation projected to fall to roughly 15% in 2026 — about half of what it was a decade ago. As the 2026 election cycle intensifies, the geographic spread of solar jobs across the country may prove more politically potent than the shrinking coal workforce.