The company plans to invest more than $100 million in an advanced manufacturing facility to produce over 10,000 Heron Links per year.
MORGAN HILL, Calif.—Power electronics manufacturer Heron Power reported in August that it selected Morgan Hill as the home of its first large-scale factory in the United States.
The company said in a release that it plans to convert a former 286,000-square-foot distribution warehouse, 30 minutes south of San Jose, into an advanced manufacturing facility. There, it will produce Heron Link, a 5-megawatt medium voltage power conversion system for large scale energy and data center projects.
Heron’s first factory is designed to manufacture up to 10,000 Heron Links a year, over 40 gigawatts annually and roughly three-quarters of the total new generating capacity the entire U.S. grid added in 2025. Heron expects to add more than 600 jobs in advanced manufacturing, engineering, and operations roles in California and invest more than $100 million in the facility. Site preparation for manufacturing was scheduled to begin immediately, with mass production slated to begin in late 2027, the company said.
Heron Factory One is expected to significantly increase domestic production capacity of critical energy infrastructure. The manufacturing facility will produce Heron Link, a 5-megawatt medium voltage power conversion system for large scale energy and data center projects. (Photo: Heron Power/PRNewswire)
Over the past two decades, grid-edge technologies such as batteries, solar, electric vehicles, and compute have advanced dramatically in capability and affordability. However, the hardware on the other side of the wire has not kept pace with this progress, according to Heron Power.
“Much of it is decades-old, largely mechanical technology that is increasingly more expensive, hard to source, and ill-matched to the dynamic, bidirectional, growing demand for end-use electrification, new manufacturing, and AI data centers,” the release stated. “Compounding the problem, over 80 percent of critical grid components, such as transformers and inverters, is imported.”
Heron Factory One is Heron Power’s answer to this gap, scaling production of next-generation energy infrastructure in the United States. Heron Link is reported to collapse multiple pieces of grid equipment into one compact modular unit, powered by intelligent, software-controlled semiconductors. This is said to result in higher efficiency, increased system uptime, faster deployment, smaller physical footprints, and large AI data centers that support rather than destabilize the grid.
“America’s grid has to grow faster than it has in decades,” said Drew Baglino, CEO and founder of Heron Power, in the release. “We’re seeing new demand from AI and EVs, and at the same time, new supply from solar and storage. The equipment running the grid hasn’t changed in 50 years. Heron Factory One in Morgan Hill is how we fix that. We’re manufacturing the leapfrog technology our grid needs, at scale, in America first.”
Heron Power evaluated manufacturing locations across multiple states before selecting Morgan Hill. The decision places manufacturing near Heron’s engineering headquarters and the broader Bay Area’s deep engineering and manufacturing talent pool. This is expected to accelerate Heron Factory One’s ramp to full output, quality, and cost targets.
The City of Morgan Hill, PG&E, and state partners worked alongside Heron Power and its real estate advisor JLL over 10 months to select the facility. It is supported in part by a $26.4 million California Competes (CalCOMPETES) award, a competitive, merit-based tax credit administered by CA GO-Biz.
“Heron Power is building the technology that will make America’s grid faster, more efficient, and more reliable, and we’re proud to support their expansion in California through CalCompetes,” said Dee Dee Myers, senior advisor to Governor Newsom and Director of GO-Biz, in the release. “Heron Power is the latest company betting on California workers—and we’re betting on them right back. Their new facility adds more than 600 good-paying jobs and represents a direct investment in the energy infrastructure of the future, built right here in the Golden State.”
Heron Power Electronics Company states in the release that it builds hardware for a better grid, helping the electricity sector grow faster with scalable, reliable, and software-controlled infrastructure. The company’s first product, the Heron Link, enables renewable energy, battery storage, and data center developers to connect directly to medium voltage transmission without a transformer.
“Led by founder and CEO Drew Baglino, the company designs and manufactures its products in California, combining expertise in power electronics, software, and high-volume manufacturing,” the release stated.