Solar Power World
By Kelly Pickerel | January 30, 2026
After years of relative quiet, Tesla’s factory in Buffalo, New York, has been repurposed back to its original purpose: to make solar panels.
The 1.2 million ft² facility received a nearly $1 billion investment from New York State, and local organizations have been questioning Tesla’s employment figures since Day 1. Originally built for Silevo in the early 2010s, the Buffalo plant landed in SolarCity’s lap in 2014 after the solar installer acquired the panel manufacturer. Then Tesla bought SolarCity and took on the factory. Tesla first partnered with Panasonic to make solar cells at the facility, but Panasonic left in 2020. Since then, the Buffalo plant has made some solar roof products, become the core site for EV superchargers and is a house for self-driving car data.
Rumors started brewing at the end of 2025 that Tesla was releasing a full-sized solar panel. During Tesla’s Q4’25 earnings call, Elon Musk revealed he wants the company to build 100 GW of fully integrated U.S. solar manufacturing capacity.
The United States currently manufactures less than 4 GW of silicon cells and less than 50 GW of silicon solar panels annually, and not for lack of trying. One of the many issues with scaling silicon solar panel manufacturing in the United States is the complicated IP web with n-type technology. Tesla appears to be making a fully unique panel design in Buffalo.
The TSP-415 and TSP-420 panels feature 18 “power zones,” which allow 18 sections of a 1,805 x 1,135 x 40-mm panel to operate semi-independently and mitigate shade affects. The panels are engineered to work best with Tesla’s own inverter. Spec details circulating show the panels having a 20.5% efficiency.
Colby Hastings, senior director of Tesla Energy, has told multiple outlets that the goal is to scale the Buffalo factory to 300 MW of panel assembly capacity this year.
Kelly Pickerel has more than 15 years of experience reporting on the U.S. solar industry and is currently editor in chief of Solar Power World.

Comment *
Name *
Email *
Website


Δ
Copyright © 2026 WTWH Media LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media
Privacy Policy | RSS

source