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Suburban Houston county greenlit 30-year tax break package to secure high-stakes green energy project
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Fort Bend County is trying to put its best foot forward to entice Tesla’s new $10 billion solar panel manufacturing facility. 
Tesla, based out of Austin, has not formally determined where they’re going to build the facility. 
The incentives package for Tesla spans three decades, according to the Houston Chronicle. It would require Tesla to pay county property taxes associated with structures and buildings, but have all of its taxes associated with machinery waived. Additionally, Fort Bend County would waive inventory taxes for the first ten years of the deal, reducing the abatement to 90 percent after a decade. 
The Fort Bend County director of economic development told the publication the deal will be extended another five years if the facility employs more workers than it’s currently set to under the incentives package. 
The project has received additional benefits from Lamar Consolidated Independent School District, according to the publication. Previously, a Tesla site selection advisor told the Houston Chronicle that the race to land the solar manufacturing plant has been narrowed down to two locations, one in Texas, another in a different state. 
Musk’s interconnected web of futuristic companies has been rapidly expanding across Texas for years, but hit some key milestones in 2026. In Grimes County, SpaceX and Tesla are building a massive $55 billion semiconductor manufacturing plant they’re calling Terafab, and XAI subleased space in Austin’ Seaholm Power Plant on the Colorado River earlier this year. 
Musks’ companies have snapped up land in Bastrop and Tesla inked a 500,000-square-foot industrial lease elsewhere in Austin. He’s also teased one of his Boring Company hyperloop tunnels from Austin to San Antonio. 
The world’s richest man and first trillionaire also has the incorporated city called Starbase, near Brownsville and South Padre Island, that he uses for rocket tests. Musk is reportedly building another town, Snailbrook, in Bastrop County for his employees that are moving to the area. 
— Hunter Cooke
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