Tesla Wants a 10-Year Tax Break for a $10.1 Billion Solar Plant in Texas

Tesla wants a 10-year break on school property taxes for a proposed $10.1 billion plant in Fort Bend County, Texas, according to Yahoo Finance. The facility, filed under the name Project Crystal Sun, would make photovoltaic solar cells and assemble solar modules on part of a 3,057-acre site near FM 1994 and FM 762.

Lamar Consolidated Independent School District trustees approved the incentive 7-0 under Texas’s Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation Act (JETI), which lets school districts limit the taxable value of a project. The Texas Comptroller’s Office estimates the tax savings to Tesla at $115.2 million over 20 years — about 1.1% of the proposed commitment — while the limitation itself runs for 10 tax years.

The most important caveat is that Tesla has not made a final site-selection decision. Reports say the company is considering another location outside Texas, and the proposal still requires additional state action before a final agreement can take effect.

The filing comes weeks after a California court found Tesla liable for fraud over a Solar Roof that never produced power — a reminder that the company’s home-energy business has a troubled record even as it plans a major new solar factory. For Texas, the question is whether a $10.1 billion commitment, and the jobs that come with it, actually lands in Fort Bend County.