Commercial/Industrial Microgrids

Tesla Rooftop Solar Projects Proceeding at Reno and Austin Gigafactories

May 28, 2024

Aerial image several years ago of Tesla's gigafactory near Reno, Nevada. Image credit Smnt, own work, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Tesla Inc. has completed the addition of another 1 MW of solar capacity at its giant Reno, Nevada gigafactory, part of an ongoing work to dramatically expand both the footprint and output of clean energy resources there.

A new report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) indicates that construction on an additional megawatt (1,000 kW) of rooftop is complete, although the project is not commissioned yet.

This work follows numerous rooftop solar installations previously at the Reno gigafactory, known as Gigafactory Nevada, although the total so far pales to what Elon Musk’s company promised several years ago. Original projections totaled 70 MW in future solar capacity, but the installed solar so far is less than a tenth of that, according to reports.

The gigafactories are putting out vast amounts of battery storage equipment and integrative technologies for utility-scale projects, microgrids and electric vehicles. Production output of Powerwall battery storage began nearly a decade ago.

Tesla also is reported to have two other solar arrays, totaling 1.9 MW each, under construction at the company’s gigafactory project in Austin, Texas, according to the EIA’s Electric Power Monthly update. This is where Musk and the leadership team have moved the company's global headquarters from the former Palo Alto, California, center of activity.

Tesla also is working on another 1-MW part of the solar installation at the Austin HQ. All of these Austin projects are under construction but less than 50 percent complete, according to reports.

The electric vehicle, battery storage and software technology firm hopes to finished several of these by the end of 2024. Tesla’s Megapack battery storage technology is being utilized in numerous microgrid and off-grid power projects, including end-use customers such as PepsiCo and Pacific Gas & Electric.

About the Author

Rod Walton, Managing Editor | Managing Editor

For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

I’ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company’s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.

I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.

Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.