SolarCity’s Gigafactory | Hacker News Reader

SolarCity’s Gigafactory

technologyreview.com

30 pointsjseliger6 comments

Seems like the gamble here is on either:

1) SolarCity's newly efficient tech being the best in production for long enough to re-coup the costs of the factory, or

2) SolarCity being able to keep up with new developments along the way.

I don't know enough about the production process for PV to understand whether this is just a capacity expansion project or if the Gigafactory is tooled specifically for that 22% efficient panel. Can anyone clarify?

The Article makes a big deal about the efficiency of panels, which essentially means how many watts I can get from a square foot of solar panel.

I think for the consumer it's much more important how many watts I get per dollar, not per square foot. I'll put 18% efficient panels on my roof over a 22% that costs twice as much per watt, for example.

I think the real advantage of this factory for solar city is the lower price that comes with economies of scale.

So even if five or ten years down the road someone else makes panels with higher efficiency, it won't really matter unless they can also match the price.

This is a brand new factory in upstate NY that's going to equip SolarCity with about 1GW of yearly panel production, and allows them to vertically integrate their business (ie not rely on other panel suppliers).

Ah, okay. I realize they were primarily an installer before. The article seemed to focus on their new efficiency tech, so I was left wondering whether that was a more relevant part of the investment. Presumably they can re-tool as techniques improve and keep their vertical integration...

I am glad to see this step towards economic growth for Buffalo. This project has helped out a lot of people in the area by providing jobs. Hopefully that progress continues.

This is some really shameless product placement by the Tech Review, who are normally quite good about tech journalism. Slack? Really?

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