Tesla’s PV business was again forced into a sharp downsizing in the first quarter of this year — installed capacity down nearly 50 percent compared to the previous year and the previous quarter. Tesla explained in its annual report that there was a shortage of imported components for this. But at least the company is making headway with photovoltaics at its own plants: The Gigafactory in Nevada has been growing solar for a while, installation at the new plant in Texas began even before opening in early April, and now we’re also seeing the first photovoltaic modules German.
At first I overlooked Tesla’s solar panels
In any case, it probably won’t look as elegant as the computer image CEO Elon Musk released in July 2020 of the German Tesla Gigafactory in Grünheide near Berlin in the near future. Much of it is still being built around it, although production of the Model Y for customers there began at the end of March. But at least the solar part of Musk’s vision is coming true: he has begun installing photovoltaic panels on the roof of the German Tesla factory.
This could have been seen in a drone video that local observer @Gf4Tesla posted to YouTube on Thursday, but apparently neither he nor the viewers noticed it at first. So it was up to @gigafactory_4 to post one on Saturday along with other photos on Twitter with the description “solar units from the south” and He may be the first to explainHe is pleased that the photovoltaic cells have finally been installed at the German Tesla factory. This was the intention of the second version of the plans.
The first solar panels were installed in #Giga_Berlin pic.twitter.com/h22nr815xQ
– Tobias Lindh (@tobilindh) April 23, 2022
If it does not escape the eyes of the drones for some time, the photovoltaic installation should begin this week. Images posted by another local observer, tobilindh, on Saturday show a total of 16 long rows, each containing about 100 solar units, on the surface of the Gigafactory. So it must be equipped with the first 1000 at least. The output depends on whether the units are standard size, which cannot be determined from the images – if so, it would probably be around half a megawatt now.
East-West PV for German Giga plant?
So far, all PV modules on the German Tesla’s roof seem to be oriented west. This generally promises lower electricity productivity than the south, but could be due to the fact that the roof is slightly higher to the east from the start of the installation. So you should shade the eastern or southern units in the morning, while the western variant will be directly exposed to the sun at its best. Additionally, away from the high ceiling sections of the paint shop and printing house, there is still room for more photovoltaic cells, which can then be installed eastward for a more even output during the day.
