Elon Musk and SolarCity unveil new super-efficient solar panel

SolarCity is scheduled to begin production on new, high-efficiency solar panels this month at its Fremont factory. SolarCity unveiled a solar panel on Friday that it says is the most efficient in the industry. The efficiency rating refers to the proportion of the sun’s energy a module converts into electricity.

SolarCity created its new panel via a proprietary process that it claims not only ups the performance, but also significantly reduces the manufacturing cost relative to other high-efficiency technologies at the same size as other solar panels, adding an additional 30 to 40 percent more power per panel. In ground-mounted utility-scale arrays, a bifacial capability will increase overall installation production by 10% to 15%, Rive said.

That’s not the only record that the panel could break, since SolarCity wants to manufacture them at rates that no one has ever accomplished before.

SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive expects production to begin in the first quarter of 2017.

SolarCity Chief Technology Officer Peter Rive said engineers carried over from Silevo steered the new module design that gets rid of dead space on the panel surface, in part by re-sizing solar cells.

To back its claims SolarCity provides results of independent testing done through a third-party, the Renewable Energy Test Center, which is a services and certification testing facility for solar panel products. Out in the field, companies like SolarCity must balance efficiency with cost.

In August, the company held a ceremony marking a milestone in the construction of its new GigaFactory in Buffalo. On top of this, its higher efficiency modules will also save on BOS and labor costs as was mentioned before. SolarCity’s recent module efficiency announcement clearly shows that the company’s manufacturing ambitions are coming to fruition. However, Bass explains that “long-term, we’re hopefully we can lower the cost to the customer, or at least offer solar power in more places than we do today”. The state is using $750 million in taxpayer money to build the factory and purchase its equipment in an effort to turn the Buffalo Niagara region into a hub for solar energy manufacturing.