Tesla has begun manufacturing its Solar Roof tiles last month at its gigafactory in Buffalo, New York, according to PV Magazine.
The company began installation of the Solar Roof for “non-employee homeowners”, a reference to the pilot projects that were installed on the homes of top executives and other employees. Tesla said this included validating glass tile reliability and weatherisation testing.
Equipment configuration is continuing at the gigafactory, with the aim to achieve 1GW of annual cell and module production annually, making it the largest PV factory in the western hemisphere.
Tesla has approximately 500 employees currently working onsite at the factory, and the company says it plans to hire more to handle the upscaled production.