Tesla’s Sleek New Solar Panels

WITS Articles

By: Evan Marshall

 

Tesla has unveiled its newest product—solar panels that can be added on to a pre-existing roof.

 

Last year Tesla acquired another company of Elon Musk’s, SolarCity, which specializes in solar products, generally home and business solar panels. Musk called the purchase “blindingly obvious,” allowing Tesla to offer end-to-end solar services, although the stock market disagreed with him at the time. SolarCity struggled with its investors, who wanted the company to expand its growth before working on turning a profit.

 

Musk announced that Tesla would begin selling solar panels last month in a tweet. With an exclusive deal with Panasonic, it appears the merger is bearing its first fruits. Most solar installers use a variety of suppliers for their installations. But not SolarCity, whose deal with Panasonic stipulates that the company will build solar panels at Tesla’s “Gigafactory 2” in Buffalo, New York. The new Panasonic panels will not be available for purchase through any other means besides Tesla and will begin production in the summer.

 

The panels utilize technology that SolarCity had acquired while still an independent company, a system which allows for them to be attached to a roof “with integrated front skirts and no visible mounting hardware.” The result, Tesla says on its website, is a “clean, streamlined look.”

 

While the company has not revealed all the new specs of the panels, they provide 325 watts and Tesla claims that they “exceed industry standards for durability and lifespan.” The non-Tesla 325-watt panels that Panasonic sells have a 21.76 percent efficiency and a 25-year power output warranty.

 

Where SolarCity struggled, Musk is convinced Tesla can add a boost to an industry that entered 2017 with a sense of dread. Everything from the bankruptcy of SunEdison, the world’s largest renewable power developer, to a predicted decline in Chinese demand, to the election of a president more focused on coal than solar, has left the industry shaky. It’s too early to see if Musk can buck the trend, but considering the success of his other recent ventures, there’s certainly reason to believe he stands a chance.