Recently, the Tesla solar project broke the news that the rooftop photovoltaic project, which has been suspended for nearly three months, is scheduled to restart in the fourth quarter of this year. At the same time, the company is also working with real estate manufacturers to jointly build the world's first Tesla "solar community."
According to the analysis of authoritative institutions, it is estimated that the penetration rate of household roofs in the United States is 15%, and the market size of household rooftop photovoltaic projects in the United States will reach 600 billion US dollars in the future.
Tesla and U.S. real estate firm Brookfield are collaborating on the installation of the Solar Roof and its home battery (Powerwall), focusing on a new home in Easton Park in Austin, Texas.
Tesla’s rooftop solar and its home batteries have been installed in many new homes in Easton Park’s 12,000 residential developments so far. Many of Brookfield's listings in the area are branded "Tesla PV packages."
In fact, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has always wanted to tap into the hot real estate market in Texas.
In 2021, Tesla signed a partnership agreement with Brookfield and Dakla to jointly develop a large-scale solar community in Austin.
At present, the new house in Easton Park in Austin has begun to deploy Tesla's photovoltaic roof and battery products, and the world's first "Tesla photovoltaic community" will become a reality.
However, Tesla's rooftop PV project has not been smooth sailing.
According to data disclosed by Tesla, in 2021, the total installed capacity of Tesla's solar energy projects will be 345MW, a year-on-year increase of 68%; energy storage projects will increase by 32% year-on-year.
In the first quarter of this year, its solar installations fell to 48MW. The reason Tesla gave was that import delays for some solar modules were beyond its control, and the details were not disclosed. In the second quarter of this year, the installed capacity of Tesla's solar energy projects rebounded to 106MW, a quarterly high in the past four years.
In July, Tesla suspended solar roof installations in most U.S. markets after product development and market expansion fell far behind expectations.
In fact, Tesla's solar project has encountered twists and turns. In addition to being affected by the epidemic, it is not unrelated to US trade policy.
In response to global warming, the United States has pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% by 2030. This also means that the United States needs to add at least 50GW of photovoltaic installed capacity every year from this year, and it may not reach the standard until 2030.
In fact, the U.S. installed capacity was much lower than expected. In the second quarter of this year, US solar installed capacity was 4.6GW, down more than 10% year-on-year. Full-year installations are expected to be 15.7GW, the lowest level since 2019.
In fact, the potential of the U.S. rooftop solar market cannot be underestimated.
According to authoritative estimates, the population of the United States is about 330 million, and the number of households is about 100 million. If the penetration rate of photovoltaic roof is 15%, 15 million rooftop photovoltaic systems need to be installed, and the market size can reach 600 billion US dollars.
In addition, according to the survey results of a well-known independent polling agency in the United States, about 46% of households in the United States want to install photovoltaics due to the continuous increase in electricity bills. The current market penetration rate is only about 5%.
It can be seen that the future potential of the U.S. rooftop photovoltaic market is huge.
Musk has previously said that the development of the solar business will be accelerated in 2022, and the solar roof will become one of Tesla's main businesses.
For Chinese photovoltaic companies with global competitiveness, Tesla's plan to restart the rooftop photovoltaic project is undoubtedly a great benefit, and companies in the related supply chain are expected to benefit.
