Tesla Gigafactory to get world's largest rooftop solar array

Tesla has big plans for its big roof in Nevada. The electric automaker/energy company has said from the beginning that its Gigafactory (which, as future plans have expanded, has come to be known as 'Gigafactory 1') would be a net-zero-energy production facility powered by renewables. Electrek reports that on a recent tour for investors, though, Tesla said just how massive onsite solar power generation capacity would be: 70 megawatts.

That's about seven times larger than any other rooftop installation in the world. (For comparison, the current largest installation on a single roof is a 42-acre, 11.5-MW solar farm on the Dera Baba Jaimal Singh in Beas, India.) Thanks in large part to this solar power system, Tesla says the GF1 won't directly consume any fossil fuels. The factory will be able to store excess energy in Tesla's own Powerpack batteries for use when the sun isn't shining. It's likely that Tesla will also be using its own photovoltaic panels, thanks to its acquisition of SolarCity.

Additionally, the Gigafactory will use a closed-loop system to save water, will heat its factory using waste heat – a byproduct of battery manufacturing – and recycle batteries onsite. A document given to investors also outlines how Tesla is lowering operational costs and the cost of cells and batteries, for which production recently began. Tesla says GF1 will have 35 GWh of annual cell production capacity and 50 GWh of battery production capacity by the end of its current construction phase.

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Musk Says Tesla Solar Roof Will Cost Less Than A Conventional Roof

Elon Musk was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement after the official shareholders meeting approving the merger of Tesla Motors and SolarCity ended. Before the question and answer session could begin, he told the audience that he had some “amazing stuff” to tell them.

Almost everything Elon says is amazing, so what had him so excited? Simply this: He announced that the cost of a Tesla glass tile solar roof would actually be equal to or slightly less than a conventional roof. And no, that is not after deducting the value of the electricity it generates over the next 20 years or so. That is right now, today, as soon as it is installed. Elon, you’re right, that is amazing stuff!

How is that possible? Elon explained to the audience that a lot of it has to do with the current supply chain for roofing materials, which he said is incredibly inefficient. It turns out, the glass tiles weigh up to 80% less than conventional roofing materials, especially ceramic tile or concrete tiles. Both of those are very popular in many locations around the world, especially southern California and the Mediterranean countries. Not only do the Tesla glass tiles weigh less, they are less fragile, which means less loss for breakage.

Much of the cost of conventional roofing materials can be attributed to shipping all that weight over long distances. And, as Musk said last month during the grand unveiling for the solar roof, glass is basically sand and sand is super cheap.

Not every tile on every roof will have a high-efficiency solar cell embedded into it. Some sections will be unsuitable for producing solar power either because they face the wrong direction or are shaded during all or part of a day.

But, says Musk, it will be impossible to tell the tiles apart from below once they are installed. That is partly because of the tiny plastic micro-louvers built into them that make for a uniform appearance from below.

Now that Tesla and SolarCity will be one company (SolarCity will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Tesla), Musk says that a homeowner will be able to walk into any Tesla store to sign up for a solar roof. “Say ‘yes,’ it happens, it’s seamless, and you love it!” he told his audience.

Installations will begin this summer. The most popular tiles will be offered first — the choices are Tuscan, Slate, Textured Glass, and Smooth Glass — with the other three styles being released approximately 3 months apart later. Given the cost and the utility savings, Musk asks, “Why wouldn’t you?” Why not, indeed.

Taking Another Look At A Tesla/SolarCity Merger

Wall Street has not been kind to the idea of Tesla Motors buying SolarCity in a deal that would involve no cash but would pay the solar panel company with $2.8 billion in Tesla stock. Some analysts have even used words like “deranged” when referring to Elon Musk’s latest idea. But according toBloomberg, Elon may be crazy like a fox. Here’s why:

It says the residential solar power business is all about branding. No one can argue that in just a few short years, Tesla has built itself into a major brand respected and trusted around the world.Bloomberg sees parallels between the electric car business and the solar panel business. In both, potential customers often have a raft of questions. The technology for each is still fairly new and not widely understood.

A rooftop solar system involves lots of pieces. What panels do you buy? What about an inverter? What happens on cloudy days? Can I get paid by my local utility company if I send excess electricity back to the grid? How reliable is the installer? What about inverters? Which one is best? Who will service my system in the years ahead? What about warranties?

When you buy a Tesla, you get the entire car. All the pieces are there and they all work in harmony with each other. The company has the highest customer satisfaction numbers ever seen. Its service is widely praised. The vast majority of people are happy to do business with Tesla, as evidenced by the nearly 400,000 people who willingly stood in line for hours to plunk down a deposit on the upcoming Model 3.

Bloomberg remembers a time when computers were still novel technology and there was a welter of confusing claims. Then Apple opened its first stores. They were places where people could come to get answers to their questions without being pressured to buy something. Apple’s approach transformed the personal computer business.

It thinks if Tesla took the same approach with SolarCity products at its stores something similar would happen. That could ignite the domestic solar industry in a way that critics of the deal simply cannot imagine. A Tesla showroom that also offers SolarCity products would calm the fears of millions of potential residential solar customers and drive the industry to an entirely new level.

Bloomberg says, “What ties the cars-plus-solar Tesla store together is an implicit guarantee of good customer service and sophisticated technology that’s easy to use. That’s branding that can never quite come together so long as Tesla and SolarCity remain separate companies. But together, it just might expand the entire market for solar.”

But residential solar is just the tip of the iceberg. Tesla is also deeply involved in battery storage. Keep in mind Elon Musk’s overarching goal, which is to show the world how to break its fossil fuel addiction. As Tesla expands its solar customer base, it will be in a position to become not just a battery storage company but a quasi-utility company in its own right.

A battery can respond instantaneously to a call for power, something conventional generators cannot do. The demand for electricity on the grid fluctuates significantly over time. Any electricity a utility company generates must be used immediately or it is wasted. That means utilities generate a lot of electricity they never get paid for.

But what if that excess power is stored, some of it in batteries that are part of residential solar power systems? And what if, through a fully connected network that links all those systems together, Tesla could supply power to the grid for just a few minutes, a few seconds, or even fractions of a second? That could make it a significant force in grid operations. Bloomberg expects upcoming regulatory changes will make it easier for Tesla to become a supplier of electricity to the grid, rather than just a battery company. “Musk’s intentions are larger than simply adding a third product category,” said BNEF analyst Hugh Bromley. “The future of Tesla Energy could be in energy services.”

Bloomberg concludes its analysis this way: “Is SolarCity a major distraction for Tesla? Probably. Does it add existential risk to both of these long, cash-torching bets? Most likely. Are the conflicts of interest messy? Definitely. But could the deal also result in the world’s first clean-energy juggernaut, a company that does for solar power, batteries, and electric cars what Apple did for computers, phones, and software apps? It’s worth considering.”

The stock analysts who are ripping Tesla for its plan to buy SolarCity all have valid points, but they may be missing the forest for the trees. For whatever reason, Elon Musk is like the chess master who thinks twelve moves ahead while mere mortals are focused on what to do next. His ability to peer into the future and see connections that others do not is uncanny. Once you realize Musk’s mission is nothing less than an end of a fossil fuel–driven world, his ideas start to make a lot more sense.

As Solar Installations Soar, Utilities Confront Distributed Renewable Power

Photovoltaic solar power field at Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee

As electric-car sales continue to grow, major changes are expected to come to the electricity infrastructure used to power them.

As solar cells become more affordable, utility companies must ponder the impact of a larger portion of U.S. homes and businesses that either disconnect from the grid or buy only a fraction of their previous electricity consumption.

CHECK OUT: Residential Solar Competitive With Electricity In 25 States Next Year: NRG CEO

While potentially beneficial to the environment, this "distributed generation" model threatens the way utilities have done business for over 100 years.

The way utilities are responding to the possibility of U.S. energy going off the grid is the subject of a recent--and thorough--article in the Financial Times (subscription required).

Photovoltaic solar panels on roof of Honda Smart Home at UC-Davis, California

Going off the grid

Efficiency improvements and overcapacity of solar-panel manufacturing in China have made solar power reasonably affordable for more people.

While still often inherently more expensive than the grid, solar is also heavily subsidized by the Federal government, as well as state and local governments.

RELATED: In 10 Years, Electric Cars Make Home Solar Practical Without Subsidies: UBS

The author cites data from GTM Research showing that U.S. solar installations have increased fourfold for homes and threefold for businesses over the past four years.

In addition, the U.S. Energy Administration expects the country's large-scale power generators to produce less electricity in 2015 than they did in 2007--despite the recent economic recovery.

Electric power plant outside Ithaca, New York

Some analysts have predicted that this will cause a "death spiral," in which utilities are forced to charge higher rates to continue maintaining infrastructure with fewer customers, and in turn encouraging more customers to look for cheaper alternatives.

That's far from a universally-held view, but it's easy to see how even the possibility of such a radical shift in a relatively short time would make utility companies nervous.

ALSO SEE: Renewable Energy Won't Cause Electric Utility 'Death Spiral': Study

Utilities only want people using solar power to pay their "fair share," said David Owens--a representative of industry association Edison Electric Institute.

That's the impetus to lobbying efforts in states like Arizona and Oklahoma, which have agreed to levy surcharges on owners of solar-powered homes. A similar effort in Utah was shot down by state regulators last year.

BMW DesignworksUSA solar carport concept

The role of electric cars

Yet there is still likely to be room for both solar installations and a traditional grid.

Many users continue to view solar as less reliable than grid electricity. Even with (expensive) systems for storing electricity for later use, most are expected to stay connected to the grid.

That's where distributed generation starts to dovetail with electric cars.

Recent research projects conducted by the University of Delaware and the U.S. Air Force are investigating the use of electric cars for grid storage.

In these "vehicle-to-grid" (V2G) configurations, electric cars are used to store excess energy and discharge it during periods of higher demand.

MINI E electric cars used in vehicle-to-grid test. Photo by University of Delaware/Evan Krape

This could provide home owners with a convenient storage solution, and take some stress off the grid by balancing supply and demand.

As Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk--who also happens to be the chairman of solar company SolarCity--notes, more electric cars may also increase generation needs (though that depends greatly on what time of day they're recharged).

Musk expects electric cars to double the demand for electricity, leaving room for solar to grow while utilities' business essentially remains the same.

Other projections assume the bulk of recharging is done overnight, which cuts the impact enormously.

Whatever the numbers prove to be over the next few decades, it's clear that the development of electric cars and solar power will continue to be intertwined--in what appears to be a mutually beneficial cycle.

370 Mile Electric Cars By 2020 Says VW

Volkswagen will have electric cars with up to 370 miles of range on the market by 2020 says VW’s head of powertrain development, Dr. Heinz-Jakob Neusser. He also says plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) and fuel cell vehicles (FCEVs) will only help bridge the gap until electric cars are able to meet the everyday driving needs of the general public and then fade away.

What will make greater driving range possible? Neusser says his company is hard at work finding ways to increase the energy density of its batteries from 25 Ah (ampere hours) today to 37 Ah by 2017. That improvement will allow range to go from 110 miles to 180 miles. The next step is to boost energy density all the way up to 60 Ah, making range up to 370 miles possible. According to Australia’s Motoring, Neusser says “with research will come a completely new electro-chemical chemistry inside the batteries, and this will come at the beginning of the next decade.”

Dr. Neusser sounds very sure of himself and electric cars with 350+ miles of range within the next 5 years is exciting news. I might even be persuaded to trade in my trusty Civic for one. But there are a few hurdles yet to clear before the world embraces electric cars. Infrastructure is one, and costs the other. The Volkswagen e-Golf is the first electric VW for sale in America, and it comes in at a hefty $36,265 but only has an estimated range of between 70 and 90 miles per charge. The infrastructure to recharge these new high power batteries is completely lacking at the present time.

Long range is wonderful to think about, but if the cars that feature such capability cost more than a lightly used Rolls Royce, people like me are going to stick to their used Honda Civics. In the end, it always comes down to money – the difference between what we want and what we can afford. That said, Volkswagen is the peoples’ car after all, and battery prices are expected to continue their downward descent as more investment goes into the technology.

Over on the other side of the world, the Japanese have made a major commitment to fuel cell technology. They are as dismissive of Dr. Neusser’s electric cars as he is of their FCEV’s. Honda has just announced a major new collaboration with SolarCity, the solar panel company co-founded by Elon Musk of Tesla fame. One of the result of that partnership may be a supply of hydrogen from solar power for all the FCEV’s Honda expects to sell.

So if you are a car enthusiasts, buckle your seat belt. We are living in interesting times. About all anyone can say for sure of is that the cars our children and grandchildren drive will be a whole lot different than what’s sitting outside in your driveway right now.

Source: Volkswagen

Massive New $50 Million SolarCity-Honda Megadeal Could Open FCEV Door

With barely a pause for breath after its groundbreaking MyPower solar financing announcement earlier this week, the leading solar company SolarCity is out with another megadeal. This one involves Honda in a $50 million venture to finance solar projects for Honda and Acura customers and dealerships in the U.S.

The new SolarCity-Honda deal actually adds $50 million to an existing $65 million solar financing pot that the two companies established last year, so it’s not exactly new as in never-before new.  However, when we first covered the launch of the partnership back in 2013 we skipped over an interesting angle that just occurred to us this minute.

Yep, that would be the f-word, as in fuel cell electric vehicles.

Fuel cell for FCX Clarity fuel cell electric vehicle (cropped) courtesy of Honda.

The New SolarCity-Honda Deal

The new $50 million SolarCity-Honda deal, announced just yesterday at the SXSW Eco conference in Texas, aims to drive the cost of on site solar power down to the affordability level by making the now-familiar power purchase agreement (PPA) platform available for a limited time to eligible Honda and Acura customers and dealers.

Under a PPA, property owners pay no money up front for their solar installation. They simply pay for the solar electricity they use on a monthly basis, which is typically less than what they would pay for grid-supplied electricity. The installer owns and maintains the hardware.

That MyPower SolarCity announcement from earlier this week added a new twist, which enables the property owner to lower their monthly payments by exercising a prepayment option.

SolarCity, Honda, And Your Solar Powered House

So, here’s where it gets interesting. For those of you new to the topic, among other high profile ventures the chairman of SolarCity is Elon Musk, who is also co-founder and CEO of Tesla Motors.

Tesla has focused like a laser on manufacturing superstar-quality plug in electric vehicles based on lithium-ion battery technology, so whatever SolarCity does to push the market for low cost, distributed solar energy give an assist to the market for Tesla Motors as well as other plug in EV manufacturers.

 

In terms of the Honda partnership, both SolarCity and Tesla stand to benefit from the solar-powered, EV-friendly house that Honda is demonstrating on the campus of UC-Davis in California (Ford and KB Home have also teamed up in a similar solar-EV home venture, btw, which is already being marketed in that state.)

SolarCity, Honda, and FCEVs

Keep in mind that fuel cell electric vehicles are EVs, too, and you can see how this will get even more interesting for Honda.

Here’s the pitch about that extra $50 million in solar financing from Honda’s press release (emphasis added):

Envisioning a future in which personal mobility products will be powered in large part by renewable energy, the two companies have begun implementing co-marketing programs that specifically encourage owners of either solar powered homes or plug-in electric vehicles to adopt the complementary product.

In case you’re wondering why Honda didn’t just come right out and say plug in electric vehicles or BEVs (fancyspeak for battery electric vehicles), that’s probably because along with its BEV lineup, Honda is one of the two leading automotive fuel cell patent holders globally.

Aside from getting ready to launch its new Clarity FCEV, Honda has teamed up with the other fuel cell patent leader, GM, in a major next-generation fuel cell and hydrogen production collaboration. That could end up leveraging the massive potential of the US Army market, given GM’s fuel cell demo project with the Army in Hawaii.

This is just a wild guess but given the advances in solar-powered hydrogen production, we’re also thinking that when Honda and GM say “next-generation” what they mean is sustainably sourced hydrogen.

Shorter version: SolarCity’s strategy of a seamless hookup between the EV market and distributed solar energy will eventually benefit FCEV owners as well as BEVs.

As for where all those FCEV owners might be, aside from the Army you can start with California, which is already a marketing hotspot for SolarCity and Tesla. FCEVs are in the state’s master plan for pushing the EV market forward, and construction is already under way on a network of hydrogen fueling stations in the state.

As with BEV charging stations, hydrogen fueling stations can be installed at some existing service stations, as demonstrated by a recent study by Sandia National Laboratories.

Add distributed, solar-powered hydrogen production and fueling to that network, and the issue of FCEV fueling convenience starts to drift away.

Did we mention that Honda already has a home-scaled, solar-powered hydrogen fueling station in the works?

Well, we just did. But if it’s starting to look like the SolarCity-Honda deal could end up undercutting Tesla’s BEV market, that’s way off in the future if ever at all.

Source: Gas 2.

Is Tesla's Solar City Sibling The 'Energy Company Of The 21st Century'?

Some solar-energy companies have had a hard time in recent years, but SolarCity may look a little more promising.

That isn't just because Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk is the company's chairman, either--though it can't hurt.

Instead, says The Atlantic (on Mashable), it's because the company is starting to use Tesla battery packs for energy storage, as part of its solar array systems--a move increasingly thought to be an essential part of the push towards greener electricity.

Energy storage offers the best way of regulating and buffering the inconsistent flow of energy from renewable sources like wind, solar, and tidal generation, ensuring supply will be sufficient to meet energy needs when demand is highest--and reducing wasted energy when it isn't.

By charging the batteries when power generation--in this case, from photovoltaic solar panels--is at its highest, customers can make use of greener energy in the most efficient way.

As demand creeps up around peak times (which don't necessarily match the peak times of generation), power can be used from the battery pack. SolarCity calls it 'DemandLogic', as it ensures customers avoid paying extra "demand charges" to their local utilities if they use power during the highest-demand hours.

SolarCity's Tesla-based battery packs are ideal for this, with high capacity for maximizing storage. Battery packs can be customized for each business, but the goal is to store roughly 30 percent of the electricity generated by the solar array.

SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive says DemandLogic could save commercial customers as much as 20 percent in demand charges.

There are other benefits too, such as emergency power should the grid go down in a storm. The backup battery power could be essential for keeping small businesses running if their external power source is knocked out.

It's not all commercial, of course. Some homeowners in California have already started using Tesla packs, installed by SolarCity, to cover their peak energy usage by storing power from solar arrays on their rooftops.

Thanks to strong incentives--subsidies of 60 percent in California, writes The Atlantic--customers pay relatively little for the battery packs.

Tesla itself actually uses grid storage at some of its Supercharger sites, where solar-generated electricity generated actually outstrips demand from Model S customers visiting the DC quick-charging stations.

Existing electric utilities are less keen on the idea, predictably, but with the DemandLogic system they aren't pushed out entirely. Businesses remain connected to the grid, and still draw much of their energy from it.

Rive says SolarCity is a "secondary provider" that can be viewed more as a cost-reducer than a sole energy provider.

SolarCity has big plans, however--aiming to become "the energy company of the 21st Century".

Those don't sound like the words of a company that wants to remain a "secondary provider".

And as the idea of demand-based energy storage and solar arrays catches on, Tesla's battery packs and SolarCity's solar arrays may start to become a familiar (and cost-reducing) sight.

Source: Green Car Reports