SolarCity Corporation is a subsidiary of Tesla, Inc.

that specializes in solar

energy services and is headquartered in San Mateo, California.

SolarCity markets, manufactures, and installs residential and commercial solar

panels in the US. In 2016, the company merged with Tesla, Inc. and now offers
energy storage services through Tesla, including a turnkey residential battery
backup service that incorporates Tesla's Powerwall. The company, in partnership
with Panasonic, operates the Tesla Gigafactory 2 in Buffalo, New York, where it
manufactures solar module components.

Contents
1 History
1.1 2016 workforce reduction
1.2 Subsidiary of Tesla Inc. (2016�present)
2 Locations
3 Products, services, and technologies
3.1 Solar leasing
3.2 Commercial solar
3.3 Electric vehicle chargers
3.4 Energy efficiency evaluations and retrofits
3.5 SolarStrong project
3.6 Energy storage
3.7 Installation technology
3.8 Solar roof
3.9 Government-funded collaboration
4 Litigation and investigations
4.1 Buffalo Billion
4.2 Oregon Attorney General investigation
4.3 "Solar by Degree" project
4.4 Treasury Department inquiries
4.5 Customer litigation
4.6 Customer cancellation investigation
4.7 Federal settlement for allegations of False Claims Act violations
4.8 Vermont projects without approval
4.9 Faked sales numbers
4.10 Walmart lawsuit
5 The Checks and Balances Project
6 Project financing and the Google Fund
7 Gigafactory
8 Trade organization
9 See also
10 References
11 External links
History

Original SolarCity headquarters in Foster City, California

Installation vehicles with the original SolarCity logo

SolarCity vehicle with current SolarCity logo at night

SolarCity was founded in 2006 by brothers Peter and Lyndon Rive,[2] based on a
suggestion for a solar company concept by their cousin, Elon Musk, who is the
chairman and helped start the company.[3] By 2009, solar panels it had installed
were generating 440 megawatts (MW) of power.[4][5]

The company launched their expansion to the East Coast with the acquisition of the
solar division of Clean Currents[6] and groSolar[7]. Following the acquisitions,
SolarCity further expanded operations on the East Coast and opened in
Connecticut[8], Pennsylvania[9], South Carolina[10], Florida[11], Vermont[12], and
New Hampshire[13].

In 2013, according to GTM Research, SolarCity was the leading residential solar
installer in the U.S.[14] Solar Power World magazine listed it as the No. 2 overall
solar installation company in the U.S.[15] SolarCity purchased Paramount Solar from
Paramount Equity for $120 million in 2013.[16] It had installed panels generating
6,200 MW of power by 2014.[4] In 2015, SolarCity installed 870MW of solar power,
[17] approximately 28% of non-utility solar installation in the U.S. that year.[4]

In October 2014, SolarCity announced it would be offering up to $200 million in

solar bonds to launch a new online website to buy the debt, the first registered
public offering of such bonds in the United States.[18] In March 2016 SpaceX bought
$90 million of SolarCity stock.[19]

In late 2015, SolarCity withdrew from solar sales and installation in Nevada,
following the decision by the state's Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to raise
the monthly service charge for rooftop solar customers and progressively reduce the
return on solar energy sold back into the grid under the state's net metering rule.
[20] Under the new rules, the monthly service charge imposed on Nevada Power's
rooftop solar-generating customers rose from $12.75 to $17.90 and was scheduled to
rise to $38.51 by January 1, 2020; simultaneously, the rates given to rooftop solar
generating customers for their surplus solar energy were also clawed back and were
to continue to decline over the ensuing four years.[20] As a result, SolarCity
eliminated more than 550 jobs in Nevada.[20]

In June 2016, Musk's car and battery company, Tesla, submitted an offer to acquire
SolarCity for $2.5�3 billion.[21] According to Musk, the reason for this is
"Creating a seamlessly integrated Tesla battery & solar power product that looks
beautiful".[22] On August 1, 2016, SolarCity accepted Tesla Motors' offer of 2.6
billion. The merger was completed later in 2016.[23][24]

2016 workforce reduction

In 2015, the number of employees had grown by 68.7%.[25] At the end of 2015,
SolarCity had 15,273 employees; at the end of 2016, it had 12,243 employees.[26]
SolarCity eliminated 20% of its total workforce in 2016.[26] The company did so to
preserve cash.[27] The job cuts affected workers across the entire company:[26][25]
22% of jobs were cut in operations, installations, and manufacturing; 27% in sales
and marketing. 2016 was the first year in the company's history that SolarCity cut
its workforce.[28]

In August 2016, it was announced that the company planned to take up $5 million in
charges to cover its planned layoffs. The company also cut the salaries of its two
co-founders from $275,000 to $1 per year.[29]

Subsidiary of Tesla Inc. (2016�present)

On August 1, 2016, Tesla announced in a joint statement with SolarCity it would be
acquiring the company in an all-stock $2.6 billion merger. Tesla's mission since
its inception has been to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.
As part of Elon Musk's "The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan", Tesla sought to
expedite the world's move from a mine-and-burn hydrocarbon economy towards a solar
electric economy.[30] The announcement cited operational and cost "synergies", and
integrated products would be realized with the merger. The action was approved by
antitrust regulators.[31][32] As of August 2016, Musk owned 22% of SolarCity stock.
[33] More than 85% of unaffiliated shareholders from Tesla and SolarCity voted to
approve the acquisition on November 17, 2016,[34][35] which was closed on the
morning of November 21, 2016.[24]

Tesla's 2017 goals were to launch a new car, open a large battery factory, and
"perfect autonomous driving". As of 2019 In November 2016 Musk called the merger a
"no-brainer" for SolarCity. He said that it was an accident of history that Tesla
and SolarCity were two separate companies before the merger.[36] Lyndon Rive left
SolarCity in June 2017,[37] and Peter Rive announced in July 2017 he would be
leaving also.[38] The chief policy officer of SolarCity, John Wellinghoff, left
SolarCity in April 2017.[39] Gigafactory 2 opened in Buffalo in late August 2017.
[40]

Locations
Headquarters are in San Mateo, California, while the company uses a distributed
service model in which it provides installation from local operations centers.[41]

As of May 2016, SolarCity operates in 20 jurisdictions: Hawaii, the District of

Columbia, and 18 other states on the West Coast, in the Southwest, and in the
Northeast.[42]

Products, services, and technologies

Solar leasing
In 2008, SolarCity entered the solar leasing market with a new solar lease option
for homeowners: leasing rooftop solar to customers paying no upfront costs. In
exchange, customers paid for 20 years for power generated by those panels.[43]
SolarCity's solar lease allowed some homeowners, by adopting solar power, to pay
less each month than they previously paid for electricity from the utility company.
[44][45]

The "no-money-down solar" business model became the most popular in the USA[46] and
increased installations but also added to SolarCity's debt, accounting for about
half of the company's over $3 billion debt.[47] Beginning in 2017, the company
shifted its business model to one where customers buy the solar systems with cash
or via financing.[26] Tesla, the parent company, is also changing how solar is
sold: in Tesla's stores, which will save on advertising compared to door to door
sales which reached new customers.[27][48]

Solar leasing proved harder to expand in Europe[49] despite attempts by incumbents

such as RWE.[50]

Commercial solar
In May 2008, the company completed what was, at the time, the largest commercial
solar installation in San Jose on the North Campus of eBay. That July, SolarCity
completed what was then the largest commercial solar installation in San Francisco,
for British Motor Car Distributors, consisting of 1,606 solar photovoltaic panels.
[51][52] SolarCity introduced new financing options for businesses in 2009[53] and
has built multiple solar projects for other large organizations including Walmart,
[54][55] Intel,[56] and the U.S. military.[57]

Electric vehicle chargers

See also: Charging station
SolarCity entered the electric car charging business in 2006 by buying the
SolSource Energy business of Clean Fuel Connections, Inc., which was reported to be
finalized in 2009[58] and announced in 2011 a partnership with Rabobank to make
electric car charging available for free to owners of Tesla's vehicles traveling on
U.S. Route 101 in California between San Francisco and Los Angeles. The technology
was open to all makes of cars that can make use of the same charging technology.
[59] In 2011, the company announced it would install electric car chargers that
could charge a wide range of EVs in all of its service territories.[60][61][needs
update]

Energy efficiency evaluations and retrofits

In 2010, SolarCity acquired Building Solutions, a home energy audit firm, and began
to offer energy efficiency evaluations and upgrades.[62] SolarCity worked with
Admiral's Bank of Boston in March 2012 to make a new loan available to finance
energy efficiency improvements[63] and expanded its energy efficiency services to
the East Coast.[64]

SolarStrong project
SolarStrong is SolarCity's 5-year plan to build more than $1 billion in solar
photovoltaic projects for privatized military housing communities across the United
States, announced in late 2011.[65] SolarCity plans to work with the country's
leading privatized military housing developers to install, own and operate rooftop
solar installations and provide solar electricity at a lower cost than utility
power. SolarStrong is ultimately expected to create up to 300 megawatts of solar
generation capacity that could provide power to as many as 120,000 military housing
units, which would make it the largest residential photovoltaic project in American
history, if completed. In November 2011, SolarCity and Bank of America Merrill
Lynch announced that they have agreed to terms on initial debt financing for
SolarStrong.[66]

Energy storage
Tesla and Panasonic opened the Gigafactory, a battery factory in Nevada, in 2016,
where they make a battery storage device called Powerwall that stores solar power
for use as a battery backup. The device is sold to companies including SolarCity.
[67][68] SolarCity ran a 2015 pilot project in 500 California houses, using 10-
kilowatt-hour battery packs,[69][70] using the GridLogic software for PowerWalls as
a grid backup resource.[71] This concept is also being tested in Vermont.[72]

Installation technology
SolarCity provides technologies for mounting solar panels on rooftops developed by
Zep Solar, which it acquired in 2013.[73] Zep is best known for inventing a system
that allows PV installers to "snap together" panels on the roof more quickly than
other installation approaches to shorten installation time.[74] Zep Solar's
technology eliminates the need for mounting rails on many roof types.[75]

Solar roof
In August 2016, Musk announced that Solar City would be introducing a new product
called the Tesla Solar Roof where the photovoltaic electrical energy generating
devices and system would make up an entire roof surface, rather than merely be the
mounting of solar panels on an existing roof, stating "It�s not a thing on a roof.
It is the roof,"[76] as solar energy systems have generally been designed and
installed during the early decades of terrestrial solar power.[77] Assorted styles
of solar roof tiles, made of glass, were unveiled at Universal Studios' Colonial
Street backlot street set in late October 2016. Also unveiled was the Tesla
Powerwall 2, a home battery product designed to store surplus power, either from
the tiles or from the grid.[78] Consumer Reports compared the estimated economy of
solar roofs to traditional roofing.[79][80]

As of August 2017, production of tiles for the Tesla Solar Roof had begun at the
company's Buffalo, New York Gigafactory 2.[81] In January 2018, Tesla announced,
after testing on employees' roofs, that it would begin installing the product on
commercial customers' homes "within the next few months".[82]

Government-funded collaboration
The SunShot Initiative is a national effort to support solar energy adoption to
make solar energy affordable for all Americans. It is run by the US Department of
Energy's Solar Energy Technologies Office and funds research, development,
demonstration, and deployment projects. It is a collaboration of private companies,
universities, state and local governments, and nonprofits, as well as national
laboratories. The program began in 2011 with the initial goal of making solar
energy competitive with traditional forms of electricity by 2020. By 2016, the
program achieved 70% of the progress towards the 2020 goal.[83]

In the fiscal year 2012 Congressional budget, the program was appropriated $457
million. According to the US Department of Energy's appropriation request for that
year, "The program also encourages Systems Integration by developing radically new
approaches to reduce the cost and improve reliability and functionality of power
electronics and supporting industry development through test and evaluation
standards, and tools for understanding grid integration issues."[84]

SolarCity was involved in a collaboration with the program along with the Energy
Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Hawaiian Electric Industries.
Using government and taxpayer funds, SolarCity helped 2,500 Hawaii residential
customers connect their solar power systems to the grid by the end of December
2015.[85]

Litigation and investigations

Buffalo Billion
Buffalo Billion is a billion-dollar program from the administration of New York
Gov. Andrew Cuomo to revitalize Buffalo, New York. One of the main features of the
program is a 1.2 million square foot solar panel factory called SolarCity
RiverBend. It will be owned by SolarCity. The factory "is expected to become the
largest manufacturing facility in the Western Hemisphere when it opens". Hiring for
the factory is expected in spring of 2017 and the factory is expected to begin
producing solar cells by the summer of 2017.[86]

The factory will be located in an "innovation hub" called the High-Tech

Manufacturing Innovation Hub at RiverBend. The state appropriated $750 million in
funding for the hub. According to Daily Energy Insider, "The facility will have one
gigawatt of annual solar capacity when it reaches full production and is expected
to produce about 10,000 solar panels per day." SolarCity is required to spend $5
billion over the next decade on the facility and create more than 1,460 direct
manufacturing jobs.[86]

As of May 2016, federal investigators were investigating how money and contracts
within the Buffalo Billion program were distributed. SolarCity was a partner in the
program. The company intended to open a large solar panel factory on the Buffalo
River. In May 2016, New York State officials postponed the approval of almost $500
million for the SolarCity project. According to The New York Times, Buffalo Billion
will benefit "a tangle of well-connected players � including developers and
frequent donors to the governor � who have feasted on Buffalo Billion money".[87]

On April 29, 2016, then-U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (of the Southern District of
New York) began an investigation into state construction projects and contracts.
Buffalo Billion was a part of that investigation. Many companies have been
subpoenaed, and have provided information, including SolarCity and the office of
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. SolarCity is not the subject or focus of the
investigation, and not involved in the vendor selection or contracting.[88]

The United States attorney's office for the Southern District of New York is
leading a federal inquiry into Buffalo Billion. Prosecutors subpoenaed several
state institutions who were responsible for SolarCity and other components of the
Buffalo Billion project. The subpoenas sought information about how government-
funded programs were awarded and what the role was of state officials who selected
the winners. Cuomo has strongly defended the project noting that there has been a
decrease in unemployment and an increase in spending around the Buffalo area.[87]

In February, three executives who worked for LPCiminelli Development who were
arrested in 2016 in a federal bid-rigging investigation motioned to have the case
against them either dismissed or moved from Manhattan to Buffalo. The three men
face a 14-count indictment for wire fraud and bribery and alleged bid rigging of
the SolarCity RiverBend construction contract. Additionally, five other people have
been charged with related crimes. The trials will begin in late spring of 2017.[86]

An Albany firm called Whitman Osterman and Hannah represented both LPCiminelli and
Fort Schuyler Management Corporation, which was a subsidiary of SUNY Polytechnic
that was awarded the contract to develop the site where SolarCity is being built.
The governor's office said that the formal awarding of the SolarCity contract was
made by Fort Schuyler on behalf of the state. On May 18, 2016, the Public
Authorities Control Board delayed a meeting at which it was set to approve $485
million in new funds for SolarCity. As late as May 2016 SolarCity said that it was
cooperating with federal agents who had been in contact with the company.[87]

The New York state legislature plans to approve a budget by April 1, 2017 that
would give $500 million more into the Buffalo Billion program. In return, the
legislature wants the Cuomo administration to put more transparency into how the
money is spent.[86]

Oregon Attorney General investigation

On March 30, 2017, The Oregonian said that Campaign for Accountability, a D.C.-
based consumer advocacy group, and other groups have asked Oregon Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum to investigate solar panel sales practices[89] that "are designed
to trick homeowners into buying or leasing solar panels" in violation of Oregon's
Unlawful Trade Practices Act.[90] According to The Oregonian, the request to
Rosenblum "singled out one company: California-based SolarCity. It outlined several
complaints filed against the solar giant by Oregonians who claimed they'd been
misled about costs, tax credits and energy savings by the company."[90]

The Campaign for Accountability reviewed 58 complaints that consumers filed with
the Oregon Department of Justice and said that the complaints indicated "a
widespread pattern of apparent fraud and abuse by solar companies".[90] The Oregon
Solar Energy Industry Association, however, said that it examined the complaints
and "found the numbers to be relatively low � lower than those being cited by the
Campaign for Accountability".[90]

"Solar by Degree" project

The company is involved in a case concerning Martin Shain, the lead energy
consultant in a solar power project at two Oregon universities. Shain was indicted
for forgery in Marion County in August 2016. He is a consultant for BacGen
Technologies in Seattle, a key player in the controversial $24 million "Solar by
Degree" project and is accused of "creating a phony invoice from a fictional
subcontractor that was pivotal in getting nearly $12 million in tax credits from
the Oregon Department of Energy".[91] The project began in 2013 and was sponsored
by the Oregon University System; thousands of solar panels, generating millions of
kilowatts of power per year, were constructed on 21 acres on the campuses of Oregon
State University and the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls.

The state's case revolves around two documents, which include an invoice from Solar
Foundations Systems dated February 25, 2011, and a December 2011 letter signed by
Ryan Davies, the former head of RedCo, a Utah-based company, which was the second
developer on the project. According to KOIN-TV, "The Davies letter reported
$210,000 had been spent toward the project and that construction was
progressing."[92] The Solar Foundations invoice contains details of the
construction of solar arrays. The invoice was necessary to provide proof of work on
the project to get tax credits from the state. The "Solar by Degree" project
received the tax credits, but it was later shown that the company named on the
invoice, Solar Foundations, does not exist. In addition, Davies claims he did not
write nor has ever seen the RedCo letter in question and that his name was forged.
Relying on this evidence, the state claims Shain forged both documents. Shain
denies forging the invoice and claims it was given to him by someone else involved
in the project.[93] The tax credits involved were given to SolarCity, the third
developer in the project, along with its financial backers. According to The
Oregonian, "Those backers provide upfront financing for the projects in exchange
for a share of the project revenues and the federal and state tax credits, which
they can use to offset their own taxes."[91] SolarCity stated, "We financed and
constructed the projects in accord with the requirements of the Oregon Department
of Energy."[91] The company argues that the state hired Shain, and it had no
knowledge of the phony documents in question, otherwise it would have not pursued
the endeavor.[91]

Treasury Department inquiries

In 2012, the Treasury Department began investigative interviews of solar firms
regarding their fair market value calculations for constructed solar energy
systems. The IRS has yet to determine whether or not these values have been
inflated. In a 2016 federal filing, SolarCity wrote, "If the Internal Revenue
Service or the U.S. Treasury Department were to object to amounts we have claimed
as too high of a fair market value on such systems, it could have a material
adverse effect on our business, financial condition and prospects." The firm
stated, however, that its values were correct and complied with the Treasury
Department guidelines. If the Treasury Department or IRS disagrees, SolarCity and
other firms could be forced to reimburse institutions that purchase their tax
credits as investments.[94]

SolarCity received roughly $501.2 million in credits up until December 31, 2015. In
SolarCity's 2015 annual report, a note was made stating that if the government
determines misrepresentations were made, "the Department of Justice could bring a
civil action to recover amounts it believes were improperly paid to us".[94]

Customer litigation
Since 2006, SolarCity has lowered the minimum FICO score required for customers to
get the leasing deals. It uses the score of 650 (a "fair" credit rating) as the
cutoff. However, between 2014 and 2017, SolarCity signed long-term lease agreements
with at least 14 homeowner customers right before the customers defaulted on their
mortgages. The company has been named in 139 lawsuits where it is the defendant in
legal proceedings based on "residential foreclosure action".[95]

In its response, SolarCity said in a statement to the New York Times, "Out of more
than 305,000 installed customers, SolarCity is currently involved in 139 such
proceedings. The litigation is not adversarial � being named in the foreclosure
proceeding provides us with advance notice that we need to reassign a contract, and
many are immediately resolved with the relevant bank."[95]

Customer cancellation investigation

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) began investigating Sunrun and
SolarCity in May 2017, and were looking into whether they adequately disclosed
canceled contracts. "Some customers say they canceled contracts after being strong-
armed into solar-energy deals" and there have been hundreds of complaints to state
attorneys general.[96]

The federal government is investigating whether solar companies are "masking how
many customers they are losing". The SEC is involved because "investors use that
cancellation metric as one way to gauge the companies' health".[96] According to
the Wall Street Journal, "To generate business, solar companies have long relied on
thousands of salespeople who knock on doors, make hundreds of cold calls and even
trail people as they shop at retailers like Home Depot Inc., according to
salespeople, executives and homeowners."[96]

Some customers say they were strong-armed into buying solar-energy systems by sales
representatives who threatened to sue them if they didn't proceed with a project or
to place a so-called mechanic's lien on their homes�a measure used to force a
homeowner to pay for a home-improvement project. Others say they didn't realize
they had actually signed contracts."[96]

Federal settlement for allegations of False Claims Act violations

In September 2017, as part of a legal settlement with the federal government,
SolarCity agreed to pay a $29.5 million penalty regarding allegations that the
company overstated the cost of facilities it developed and submitted claims for
under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which would be a
violation of the False Claims Act. SolarCity dropped its lawsuit, Sequoia Pacific
Solar I, LLC v. United States�in which the company alleged the federal government
owed it more money�as part of the settlement.[97]

As part of the settlement, the company agreed to �release all pending and future
claims against the U.S. for additional payments from the grant program". The move
ended a five-year investigation.[98]

Vermont projects without approval

In June 2017 the Vermont Public Service Board found that SolarCity was implementing
solar projects in Vermont without approval required by law. According to Vermont
Public Radio, Public Service Board Chair Anthony Roisman sent a letter to SolarCity
warning the company that it needed to get regulatory approval before installing
solar generation equipment and attaching it to the state's electrical grid. Roisman
wrote, "Over the past few months, my office has observed a pattern of procedural
issues with net-metering applications being pursued by your company." Officials at
the company worked quickly to respond to the issue.[99]

Faked sales numbers

In July 2018, former employees filed a lawsuit against SolarCity, alleging that the
corporation had approved the creation of "fake sales accounts", which resulted in
an "unreasonably high valuation of SolarCity" for investors.[100][101] After
informing management, including CEO Elon Musk, of these incidents, the employees
were fired, which they argue contravenes California's whistleblower protection
laws. A Tesla spokesman has so far denied these allegations.[100]

Walmart lawsuit
SolarCity installed and manages solar panels on the roofs of more than 240 Walmart
stores. On August 21, 2019, Walmart filed a lawsuit against Tesla, seeking
reimbursement for millions of dollars in damages and release from contracts,
claiming that fires on the roofs of seven of those stores since 2012 were caused by
SolarCity's "negligent installation and maintenance".[102]

The Checks and Balances Project

SolarCity indirectly funds a political advocacy group known as the Checks and
Balances Project. The project has criticized the elected members of the Arizona
Corporation Commission (the regulatory body that oversees electricity and utilities
in Arizona) for being too well-connected to utility companies. The Checks and
Balances Project has filed several requests for public records from the Arizona
Corporation Commission. In July 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
interviewed the head of Checks and Balances as part of a larger criminal
investigation into the financing of certain Arizona statewide races in 2014.[103]

Project financing and the Google Fund

SolarCity partners with banks, large corporations, and the asset-backed[104] market
to create project finance funds to finance its lease and PPA (Power Purchase
Agreement) options. SolarCity's financing partners have included Bank of America,
Merrill Lynch, Citi, Morgan Stanley, National Bank of Arizona and U.S. Bancorp,
among others.[105][full citation needed] Among SolarCity's better-known financing
partnerships was a $280 million fund created with Google to finance residential
solar installations in June 2011. The Google Fund was the largest fund of its kind
in the U.S., and Google's largest investment in clean energy.[106]

Gigafactory
Main article: Gigafactory 2
In 2014, SolarCity announced plans to build a new manufacturing facility in
Buffalo, New York, in coordination with the SUNY Polytechnic Institute after
acquiring Silevo, a maker of high-efficiency solar modules. The initial
manufacturing complex will be a 1.2-million-square-foot (110,000 m2) facility that
will cost $900 million and employ 1,500 workers in Buffalo and 5,000 statewide.
[107] With a planned capacity of one gigawatt of solar panels annually by 2019, the
new plant would be the largest solar plant in the U.S.[108] Groundbreaking for the
project occurred in September 2014 with a target completion date of early 2016.
[109]

The facility would be the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.[110][111]
Panasonic is to handle production at the Buffalo plant, investing $256 million.
[112] Panasonic and SolarCity/Silevo are developing similar but somewhat different
HIT-technology, and Panasonic hopes to use SolarCity's 6-inch (150 mm) wafers
combining the two companies' technologies at an efficiency of 22%.[113][114]
SolarCity expects demand to outstrip the Buffalo production of 10,000 solar panels
per day, and buys solar equipment from other manufacturers until more factories can
be built.[115]

In February 2016, CEO Lyndon Rive announced that due to delays incurred in the
supply of machinery for the plant, production would begin in summer 2017.[116] New
York State owns the building and most of the equipment, leasing it to SolarCity.
Most of the work was completed by November 2016, when the Buffalo Billion project
was under investigation, delaying state payments to contractors, but not
influencing progress on completion of construction.[117] SolarCity started hiring
for the factory in December 2016.[118]

Elon Musk announced in 2017 that production of Tesla's solar roof products would be
moved to the Buffalo plant at the end of 2017.[119] As of August 2017, production
of solar roof tiles had begun at the factory, and Tesla expected to continue to
ramp up production through the rest of the year.[81]

Trade organization