Shoals Technologies Group (Nasdaq: SHLS) announced the grand opening of its 638,000-square-foot manufacturing campus in Portland, Tennessee. The facility represents an initial $30 million investment, with the company committing up to $80 million over the next five years to scale production for the solar, battery energy storage (BESS), and data center markets.
The centralized “Mega Facility” is designed to increase automation in production and packaging while streamlining logistics by consolidating Shoals’ three previous Tennessee locations. The expansion comes as the company celebrates its 30th anniversary and seeks to bolster U.S. manufacturing capacity amid rising demand for domestically produced electrical balance of system solutions.
The factory is expected to produce:
-
Big lead assembly (BLA): The company’s flagship “plug-and-play” system that eliminates the need for combine boxes and trenching in the field, significantly reducing on-site labor.
-
Solar electrical balance of systems (EBOS) solutions: This includes combiners, transition enclosures, and wireless monitoring systems used in utility-scale solar farms.
-
BESS infrastructure: Electrical components specifically designed for battery energy storage systems, which are increasingly paired with large solar installations.
-
Data center infrastructure: The facility will also produce mission-critical power solutions to meet the rising demand from the data center sector.
“As demand for energy infrastructure continues to accelerate, this new Mega Facility allows Shoals to scale alongside our customers and meet the needs of a rapidly evolving energy landscape,” said Brandon Moss, chief executive officer of Shoals.
Q1 2026 financial results
The manufacturing expansion comes as Shoals reported its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2026. The company posted revenue of $90.8 million, compared to $105.1 million in the prior-year period, a decline of 14%. The results were impacted by project timing and the ongoing transition of production to the new centralized facility.
Gross profit for the quarter was $35.4 million, or 39% of revenue, down from $48.3 million in the same period in 2025. Adjusted EBITDA stood at $21.2 million, compared to $35.1 million a year ago. Shoals attributed the margin compression to lower absorption of fixed costs and expenses related to the facility consolidation.
Despite the quarterly dip, the company reported a record backlog and awarded orders of $615.2 million, an increase of 17% year-over-year. The growth in backlog was driven by sustained demand for the company’s Big Lead Assembly (BLA) and plug-and-play solar solutions.
Shoals reaffirmed its full-year 2026 guidance, forecasting revenue between $480 million and $520 million. The company expects a significant ramp-up in the second half of the year as the new Portland facility reaches full operational capacity and large-scale utility projects move into the installation phase.
Management noted that the increased automation at the new campus is expected to drive long-term margin expansion by reducing labor intensity and improving throughput for high-demand BESS and data center product lines.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com.
By submitting this form you agree to pv magazine using your data for the purposes of publishing your comment.
Your personal data will only be disclosed or otherwise transmitted to third parties for the purposes of spam filtering or if this is necessary for technical maintenance of the website. Any other transfer to third parties will not take place unless this is justified on the basis of applicable data protection regulations or if pv magazine is legally obliged to do so.
You may revoke this consent at any time with effect for the future, in which case your personal data will be deleted immediately. Otherwise, your data will be deleted if pv magazine has processed your request or the purpose of data storage is fulfilled.
Further information on data privacy can be found in our Data Protection Policy.