Tesla Gigafactory 2

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Gigafactory 2
Large white sign with the red "TESLA" letters.

Large white sign with the red "TESLA" letters.

Data
place Buffalo , New York , USA
Construction year September 2014
Coordinates 42 ° 51 '32.4 "  N , 78 ° 50' 24"  W Coordinates: 42 ° 51 '32.4 "  N , 78 ° 50' 24"  W.
Gigafactory 2 (USA)
Gigafactory 2
Location of Gigafactory 2 (in the middle district on the far left or in Western New York)

Location of Gigafactory 2 (in the middle district on the far left or in Western New York)

The Tesla Gigafactory 2 is a photovoltaic factory rented from Tesla subsidiary SolarCity in Buffalo, New York . The factory, which is owned by the State of New York, was built on the redeveloped wasteland of a former steel mill. Construction of the factory began in 2014 and was completed in 2016-2017.

Originally, in 2013, the location of Gigafactory 2 was planned as a Clean Energy Business Incubation Center . SolarCity acquired Silevo Inc. in 2014. In 2016, Elon Musk took over his cousins' company including all debts for Tesla for 5.2 billion dollars. Together with Panasonic , the factory started the limited assembly of photovoltaic modules using imported Japanese PV cells in the summer of 2017.

After the commissioning of Gigafactory 1 near Reno, Nevada in 2016, Tesla named the SolarCity factory Gigafactory 2. A third Gigafactory was built in Shanghai, China.

history

The large Republic Steel mill that occupied the site before Tesla (picture from 1973)
Gigafactory under construction in 2015

background

Republic Steel and Donner Hanna Coke operated a large steel mill on the Buffalo River in the 88 acre South Buffalo site from the early 20th century to 1984. In response to the regional decline in production associated with the de-industrialization of the “ rust belt ”, New York State created a stimulus package that was later dubbed the “Buffalo Billion” and was introduced by Governor Andrew Cuomo during his 2012 state address. That package included a $ 1 billion provision for unlabeled commercial investments in the Buffalo area.

On November 21, 2013, Cuomo returned to Buffalo to announce the Buffalo High-Tech Manufacturing Hub in Riverbend. The derelict site of Republic Steel should be an Incubator for clean energy. The Buffalo Billion Fund was to provide 225 million US dollars. The two tenants were the lighting manufacturer SORAA and the solar panel manufacturer Silevo, Inc., which promised 475 jobs. The development is led by the SUNY Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, today the SUNY Polytechnic Institute. SolarCity acquired Silevo Inc. on June 17, 2014 for $ 200 million and announced the addition of 3,000 jobs in Buffalo and 5,000 nationwide. Sales should reach $ 5 billion. The factory covers 1.2 million square meters. As a result, the state increased the incentives offered to $ 750 million.

Construction and production

From August 2017, the factory started producing roof tiles for the Tesla solar roof, along with traditional solar modules.

In 2016, Tesla and Panasonic agreed a long-term purchase of the cells, but Tesla only acquired a few solar cells from Panasonic. The number of solar roof installations fell due to delays in production and job cuts in sales. Most of the cells are bought by foreign companies. Panasonic covers the demand of foreign customers for solar cells from the USA with the Gigafactory 2, since the government under US President Trump introduced import duties on solar modules. This makes the cells from Buffalo attractive to module manufacturers abroad.

Basic principle

Image of the Tesla Solar Roof tiles, which consist of thin, black roofing shingles with glassy, ​​embedded solar panels.
Tesla solar roof, manufactured in the Gigafactory 2

Panasonic has been manufacturing solar modules for 30 years. SolarCity wanted to use the manufacturing process of Silevo Inc. and thereby reduce Solarcity's high debt. Silevo has partnered with colleges and universities in upstate New York such as SUNY Poly and the Erie Community College, the latter offering semiconductor and nanotechnology programs specifically for the Gigafactory. The facility also takes advantage of New York State tax incentives and rental space.

Panasonic's HIT solar cells offer a high degree of efficiency - at a very high manufacturing price. Therefore, the solar roof introduced in autumn 2019 contains cells from Changzhou Almaden Co. in Changzhou, China. Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced in October 2019: “Tesla expects to manufacture around 1000 solar roofs per week in Buffalo in a few months. [...] We will increase that exponentially. It could double every month. All of this is produced in Giga New York, our factory in Buffalo. [...] It's really only for the solar roof in the first place. Our factory in Buffalo will focus on that. ”In February 2020, however, Panasonic and Tesla ended their collaboration on the production of solar modules.

Business activity

The factory has been assembling modules for photovoltaic systems since August 2017. The production of solar shingles and tiles for the Tesla solar roof had started at this point. Tesla announced that it will begin installing the Tesla Solar Roof for commercial customers in the first few months of 2018.

The number of solar roof systems installed by Tesla remained below expectations: According to Reuters, a total of 21 systems were installed in California by February 2019, with a few more in the northeastern United States. According to Tesla's Q1 update, solar sales plummeted 36% quarterly and 38% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2019. In April 2019, Tesla therefore cheaper solar modules by up to 38% below the US average. In June 2020, Tesla canceled orders in Oregon and Michigan because the "house is not in our currently planned service area. The distance from our closest warehouse would make it difficult for us to provide you with the high quality service our customers deserve. Therefore, we can we will not continue your project. "

Controversy

The project faced multiple controversies and legal action related to inflated job promises, cost overruns, construction delays, bid errors, and the financial health of SolarCity and Tesla. At the end of 2019, The Buffalo News reported that Tesla employed around 800 people in Buffalo. In April 2020, it should be 1,460, or Tesla faces a $ 41.3 million fine because New York State spent $ 1 billion in taxpayers' money building the factory.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ David Robinson: 6 things to watch as Panasonic gears up to start production . The Buffalo News, August 31, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  2. ↑ Simon Alvarez: Tesla Gigafactory 3 in China to finish initial construction in summer after groundbreaking event , Teslarati, January 6, 2019, accessed on March 22, 2019.
  3. ↑ Buffalo High-Tech Manufacturing Innovation Hub at RiverBend | Buffalo trillion . buffalobillion.ny.gov. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  4. ↑ Patrick Sisson: A Gigafactory Is Rising in Buffalo, And It May Change the Solar Energy Industry . Curbed, April 1, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  5. ^ Cuomo upbeat about NY's future (with text, highlights of speech; video of Saland) . The Daily Freeman. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  6. ^ Governor Cuomo Outlines Plan to Continue Building a New York by Growing the Economy, Reinventing State Government, and Advancing New York as a Progressive Leader . Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. September 28, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  7. ↑ Staff: Cuomo's clean-energy plan gives Buffalo the seeds for a new economy . The Buffalo News, November 21, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  8. ↑ WBFO Newsroom: Buffalo's RiverBend to be site of two new clean-energy research companies . WBFO. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  9. ↑ Staff: Profiles of high-tech hub companies Soraa, Silevo . The Buffalo News, November 21, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  10. ↑ Staff: Cuomo's clean-energy plan gives Buffalo the seeds for a new economy . The Buffalo News, November 21, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  11. ^ Diane Cardwell: SolarCity Is Acquiring a Start-Up, Silevo, to Build Panels The New York Times, June 17, 2014. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  12. ↑ Staff, News 4 Digital: SolarCity investing $ 5B in Buffalo, creating 3,000 jobs . wivb.com, September 23, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  13. ↑ Staff, News 4 Digital: SolarCity investing $ 5B in Buffalo, creating 3,000 jobs . wivb.com, September 23, 2014. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  14. ↑ James Ayre: Solar Roof Tile Production At Tesla's Buffalo “Gigafactory” Now Up & Running , CleanTechnica.com, September 7, 2017.
  15. ↑ Werner Pluta: Tesla's solar cells are mainly exported , Golem.de, May 16, 2019.
  16. ↑ David Robinson. Why Tesla wants to team up with Panasonic in Buffalo . The Buffalo News, October 18, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  17. ↑ Making the World's Best Solar Panel Won't Be Easy for Tesla . NASDAQ.com. November 6, 2016. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  18. ↑ Bob Woods: SolarCity gigafactory brightens New York's manufacturing revival . CNBC, July 19, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  19. ↑ Eric Wesoff: Tesla and Panasonic end their partnership in the production of solar roof tiles February 26, 2020. Accessed February 27, 2020.
  20. ^ David Robinson: 6 things to watch as Panasonic gears up to start production . The Buffalo News, August 31, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  21. ↑ James Ayre: Solar Roof Tile Production At Tesla's Buffalo “Gigafactory” Now Up & Running , CleanTechnica.com, September 7, 2017.
  22. ↑ Brian Eckhouse: Tesla's New York Gigafactory Kicks Off Solar Roof Production , Bloomberg.com, January 9, 2018th
  23. ↑ Nichola Groom: Tesla's solar factory is exporting most of its cells - document . May 15, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  24. ^ Slav: Tesla Starts Price War In Solar Panel Market . April 30, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2019.
  25. ↑ Frederic Lambert: Tesla starts canceling Solar Roof orders after years of taking deposits June 11, 2020. Accessed June 12, 2020.
  26. ^ EJ McMahon: Cuomo's SolarCity disaster could become a monument to corruption . New York Post, September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
  27. ↑ State Funded Tesla Solar City Factory Slips Into outright corruption . The Daily Caller. Retrieved September 4, 2017.