Now most of the panels SolarCity installs are made in China by companies including Canadian Solar, Trina Solar and Yingli Green Energy, among others.
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Limited production is set to start this month, but the plan is to start building 360 watt panels at SolarCity’s new 1-gigawatt plant opening in New York next year.
The $900 million Buffalo factory, going up on the former Republic Steel site, will span 1.2 million square feet and have the capacity to produce between 9,000 and 10,000 solar panels each day, once it reaches full production sometime in early 2017. SolarCity executives said the higher-efficiency panels will allow them to produce 30 percent to 40 percent more power than standard panels of the same size. The company called it the “world’s most efficient rooftop solar panel”. Residential rooftop panels usually have an efficiency between 11 and 15 percent.
SolarCity rose to prominence leasing solar panels, not making them. The company hopes to begin production on a limited scale during the first half of next year and gradually increase the plant’s output.
Solar energy expert John Farrell, who serves as Director of the Democratic Energy Program for The Institute for Local Self-Reliance told Mashable that typical solar panel efficiency is, at 18%-to-22%, actually in the same range as SolarCity’s new panel.
Production of the new SolarCity modules initially will take place at a pilot facility in Freemont before shifting to new facilities in Upstate New York.
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One of the keys to SolarCity’s new panel, according to Mashable, is that the company has been able to produce the products at a significantly low cost, so if government tax breaks for panel installation expire, SolarCity will still make money. It shows us that while panel technology is improving at a dramatic rate, it’s also an absolute necessity for the longer-term business model that residential solar companies depend on. SolarCity says the panels are intended for homes, businesses and schools, but the product will also work for large-scale projects, including utilities.
