Tesla Powers Up New York Gigafactory Solar Roof Assembly Line
Tesla Inc. has kicked off production of its long-awaited electricity-producing shingles that Elon Musk says will transform the rooftop solar industry.
Manufacturing of the textured-glass tiles began last month at Tesla’s Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, according to an emailed statement from the Palo Alto, California-based company on Tuesday. It comes about four months after the plant, built with backing from New York State, started making solar panels and cells and more than a year after Tesla unveiled the photovoltaic shingles to a mix of fanfare and skepticism.
The appeal: a sleek, clean solar product, especially for homeowners seeking to replace aging roofs. The tiles — from most angles — look like ordinary shingles. They allow light to pass from above and onto a standard flat solar cell. Tesla, the biggest U.S. installer of rooftop-solar systems, piloted the product on the homes of several of its employees.
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Solar shingles will cost more than a conventional roof along with photovoltaic panels — but not “wickedly so,” said Hugh Bromley, a New York-based Bloomberg New Energy Finance analyst.
“It may actually do well in overseas markets where solar-photovoltaic is cheap and homeowners are used to paying a premium for building materials and cars — such as Australia,” Bromley said in an email. Read more…