SMA opens its Gigawatt Factory in Niestetal — utility-scale inverters, storage and energy management.

SMA Solar Technology AG officially inaugurated its Gigawatt Factory in Niestetal near Kassel, Germany, on Thursday, 17 September 2026, according to SMA’s English press page, the matching English press-release text file and Solarserver’s same-day report, all opened for this pack. The plant manufactures utility-scale technologies supporting photovoltaic, storage, hybrid, hydrogen and data-centre applications. Soft FLAG: SMA says that based on current calculations the facility holds space for an annual production capacity of more than 60 GW under full utilization — company design capacity, not a desk-measured run-rate. Solarserver restates the same full-utilization figure as company information.

The mechanism is concentrated European manufacturing of grid-facing power electronics. Site area is 46,000 square metres with 20,500 square metres of floor space. Investment volume is approximately €80 million, of which about €50 million is lease payments recognized under a 20-year leasing contract (IFRS 16, booked in 2024 financial statements per SMA’s footnote) and about €30 million is one-time spending on production-specific infrastructure and equipment. Soft FLAG: Solarserver’s breakdown matches the company text. Products listed across the opened SMA materials: latest-generation central inverters, battery storage solutions and energy-management devices for utility-scale applications such as PV and storage parks, hybrid plants and data centres.

Named actors: Dr. Kaveh Rouhi, SMA CFO, is quoted on reliable energy infrastructure as a prerequisite for growth, competitiveness and digital transformation, and on the factory as investment in European manufacturing. Florian Bechtold, Executive Vice President Large Scale & Project Solutions, is quoted on customers planning larger, more complex projects and on the factory’s scale and flexibility. Soft FLAG: opening-panel guests listed in the release — Dr. Herbert Diess, chairman of the supervisory board of Infineon Technologies AG; Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ben Hodges, former commanding general of U.S. Army Europe; SolarPower Europe CEO Walburga Hemetsberger; Nikolaus Valerius, CEO of RWE Generation SE; and Bechtold — are ceremony colour, not load-bearing to the capacity numbers. Theme of the inauguration, per SMA: “Transforming industrial value creation into a reliable energy infrastructure.”

Context SMA supplies in the same materials: over the past two years the company sharpened its utility-scale focus, optimized product and value-creation mix, and evolved the factory’s production layout for scalability. Soft FLAG: cumulative SMA PV inverter sales since 2006 of about 156 GW, and associated avoided greenhouse-gas and environmental-cost figures in the “About SMA” block, are company marketing totals — attribute if used; they are not Gigawatt Factory-specific output. Soft FLAG: “one of SMA’s most important manufacturing investments” is company self-ranking.

Solarserver’s German-language same-day piece restates the same site, floor, capacity and investment figures as company information and notes the opening gathered industry, politics and defence-sector guests to discuss secure energy infrastructure — Soft FLAG: that guest mix is ceremony framing, not a product claim.

What to watch without mood: first published shipments or order-book notes tied to Niestetal lines; any update that converts the “more than 60 GW under full utilization” design figure into a stated operating rate; follow-on hiring or shift announcements at the site.

Floor: SMA Gigawatt Factory open 17 Sep — Niestetal; 46,000 m² site / 20,500 m² floor; ~€80m; >60 GW/yr capacity at full utilization (co.).