Tesla began building Gigafactory outside Sparks, Nevada, in June 2014. Upon completion, Tesla expects it to be the largest building in the world - and fully powered by renewable energy sources. The factory is designed to be self-sufficient when completed, and will primarily run on solar energy. Installation of solar panels has already begun.
The solar panels will assist in the production of battery cells and electric vehicles in Gigafactory 1, where Tesla had ramped up the production rates in November 2018. The factory produces battery cells for the Model 3, as well as energy storage systems like the Powerwall and Powerpack.
According to observations by Armand Vervaeck / Twitter, Tesla has resumed the buildout of its planned solar roofing system on its Gigafactory 1 in Reno, Nevada.
Using the buildingtesla.com, you can view aerial photographs of Gigafactory 1. The pictures show us that additional progress was made on the roof of the Nevada Gigafactory after a quarterly announcement of the company's earnings, which included plans to release new solar products.
Tesla has always planned to launch Gigafactory 1 with a fully renewable energy plant roof that can hold a 70 MW solar system. The array will be responsible for feeding the entire 13 million square foot area when it is completed in the future.
While Gigafactory 1 is already running on some solar panels, Tesla is obviously taking steps to install the remaining parts of the roof with solar panels to create a completely clean source of production for its battery cells and vehicles. Tesla representatives have stated in the past that the company is working on optimizing existing power lines to create an environmentally sustainable manufacturing enterprise, which has been the company's goal since its initial design in November 2013.
Tesla always planned for Gigafactory 1 to run on fully renewable energy. The company installed several clusters of solar panels in August 2018.
Tesla's progress in providing power to the plant with solar panels is becoming apparent.
With the help of solar panels, Gigafactory 1 become one of the most sustainable building in the world after its completion. We hope that soon the roof of the Gigafactory 1 will be covered with solar panels, similar to the Tilburg assembly plant in the Netherlands. Tesla installed a 3.4 MW solar cell at a site in Tilburg that generates enough electricity to meet the needs of the facility for most of the year.
"Really like solar and battery go together like peanut butter and jelly. You obviously need the battery, particularly as you get to scale and you want to have solar be a bigger and bigger percentage of the grid. If you don’t have the batteries there to balance the grid and buffer the power, you really can’t go beyond a certain percentage of solar in a particular neighborhood," said Elon Musk (Oct 28, 2016)
Featured image: Tesla
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
