Gigafactory New York (also known as Giga New York or Gigafactory 2) is a
photovoltaic (PV) cell factory leased by
Tesla in Riverbend,
Buffalo, New York. The factory, owned by the
State of New York
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...
, was built on
brownfield land
In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...
remediated from a former steel mill. Construction of the factory, rebranded as RiverBend, started in 2014 and was completed in 2016–17.
In 2013, the site of Giga New York was planned as a clean energy business incubation center. As
SolarCity
SolarCity Corporation was a publicly traded company headquartered in Fremont, California that sold and installed solar energy generation systems as well as other related products and services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers ...
acquired Silevo in 2014 and merged into Tesla two years later, the factory was planned. The factory, in a partnership with
Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
, started limited assembly of photovoltaic modules in 2017 using imported Japanese PV cells. It began commercial production of modules in 2017. In 2018, SolarCity began production of individual solar cells.
In late 2019
[ or early 2020 Tesla began commercial installation of version 3 of its "Solar Roof" product manufactured at the factory.][Robinson, David]
"Analysis: Tesla's solar slump is proof of the pandemic's destructive power"
, ''Buffalo News'', July 23, 2020
Panasonic stopped manufacturing solar panels at the factory in 2020.[O'Kane, Sean]
"Panasonic to resume work at Tesla’s New York solar factory this week"
, The Verge, May 19, 2020 The same year, Tesla began producing charging equipment for its Supercharger network at the factory,[ and its solar deployments grew to 205 megawatts of generating capacity.][ Due to the ]COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, employment at the factory decreased in the first half of 2020,[ but by the end of 2021, the number of employees at the factory had increased to more than 1,460, as Tesla had promised New York State.][Crider, Johnna]
"Tesla Reaches Job Target for Buffalo Gigafactory, Avoids $41.2 Million Penalty"
CleanTechnica, December 29, 2021
Early history
Background
Republic Steel
Republic Steel is an American steel manufacturer that was once the country's third largest steel producer. It was founded as the Republic Iron and Steel Company in Youngstown, Ohio in 1899. After rising to prominence during the early 20th Centu ...
and Donner Hanna Coke operated a steel mill
A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-finish ...
along the Buffalo River on the 88-acre Riverbend, South Buffalo site from early in the 20th century to its closing in 1984. As a response to the regional manufacturing downturn related to deindustrialization in the Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is a region of the United States that experienced industrial decline starting in the 1950s. The U.S. manufacturing sector as a percentage of the U.S. GDP peaked in 1953 and has been in decline since, impacting certain regions and ...
, the State of New York
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. state ...
created an economic stimulus package, later dubbed the "Buffalo Billion
Buffalo Billion is a New York state government project led by former Governor Andrew Cuomo that aims to invest $1 billion in the Buffalo, New York area economy. The project uses a combination of state grants and tax breaks to spur economic ...
", providing $1 billion in unearmarked economic investments for the Buffalo area. In 2013, Governor Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
announced the Buffalo High-Tech Manufacturing Hub at Riverbend, targeting the Republic Steel site, then a brownfield
In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...
, for the development of a clean energy business incubation center that was to be funded with $225 million from the Buffalo Billion fund. At the time, the two companies announced as tenants were lighting manufacturer SORAA and solar panel manufacturer Silevo
SolarCity Corporation was a publicly traded company headquartered in Fremont, California that sold and installed solar energy generation systems as well as other related products and services to residential, commercial, and industrial customer ...
, which promised 475 jobs. Development of the site would be managed by the SUNY Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, now SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
In 2014, SolarCity detailed plans to acquire Silevo for $200 million, subsequently scaling up plans for the Buffalo gigafactory. The company outlined a construction timetable and hiring goals promising an eventual 3,000 jobs in Buffalo with 5,000 statewide, and $5 billion in economic activity. The new plans abandoned the research center design in favor of the construction of a 1.2 million square foot factory. As a result, the state increased the incentives offered to $750 million.
Construction and opening
Ground broke in September 2014. The facility was completed in late 2016 and was furnished with equipment through 2017. As of August 2017, production of solar panels had begun at the factory.
Rationale
Before Tesla and Panasonic began their partnership in Buffalo, Panasonic already had 30 years of experience producing solar panels. Because SolarCity incorporated the manufacturing process that Silevo had intended to use for production, the partnership allowed Tesla to outsource production and reduce its reliance on debt. The technology used incorporates nanotechnology
Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...
, an emerging sector in upstate New York that colleges and universities such as SUNY Poly and Erie Community College
SUNY Erie is a public community college with three campuses in western New York that serve residents in and near Erie County.
It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system and has locations in Williamsville (North Campus), Bu ...
have developed programs and research in, with the latter offering semiconductor
A semiconductor is a material which has an electrical resistivity and conductivity, electrical conductivity value falling between that of a electrical conductor, conductor, such as copper, and an insulator (electricity), insulator, such as glas ...
and nanotechnology programs specifically for employment at the gigafactory. The facility also takes advantage of tax incentives and leasable space from the State of New York. Tesla CEO Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...
has also suggested that the company's solar panels could be helpful in humanitarian crises, such as rebuilding the electric grid of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria
Hurricane Maria was a deadly Saffir–Simpson scale#Category 5, Category 5 Tropical cyclone, hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the wo ...
.
In 2015, SolarCity's CEO, Lyndon Rive
Lyndon Rive (born 22 January 1977) is a South African businessman known as the co-founder of SolarCity, and its CEO until 2016. SolarCity is a provider of photovoltaic systems and related services. Rive co-founded SolarCity with his brother P ...
, a cousin of Elon Musk, stated that the new facility would be key to creating a clean energy-manufacturing market, adding that expansion would not be possible at the Riverbend plant, but more likely in the immediate area. While SolarCity operated a pilot production and R&D facility in Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area, Fremont has a population of 230,504 as of 2020, making it the fourth List of cities and towns in the San Fra ...
, the Gigafactory provides capacity for 10,000 solar panels per day, equivalent to one gigawatt
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Wat ...
per year.
Operations
The factory began production of solar cells in 2017, and assembly of photovoltaic modules for solar panels, under Panasonic. In January 2018, Tesla announced, after testing on employees' roofs, that it would begin installing its new product on commercial customers' homes "within the next few months". Tesla delayed mass-production of the Solar Roof because of its focus on the ramp up of the Tesla Model 3
The Tesla Model 3 is a compact executive sedan that is battery powered and produced by Tesla. Limited production of the Model 3 began in mid-2017, with the first production vehicle rolling off the assembly line on July 7, 2017. The officia ...
and development of a third version of the Solar Roof; in October 2019, it announced that version 3 of the Solar Roof was ready to begin production and ramp up installations over the next several months.[Kolodny, Lora]
"Tesla releases a new version of Solar Roof tiles, aiming to revitalize its clean energy business"
, CNBC, October 25 2019
By early 2020 Tesla began commercial installation of version 3 of the Solar Roof product.[ Tesla has also begun producing charging equipment for its Supercharger network at the factory.][Hanley, Steve]
"Tesla Now Has 1,800 Employees In New York, Panasonic Quits Gigafactory 2 In Buffalo (The Solar One)"
, cleantechnica.com, February 28, 2020 In its results for the second and third quarters of 2020, Tesla reported that its solar energy operations were continuing to ramp up, partly because the company reduced the price of its standard solar products below the US industry average as part of a renewed marketing push,[Ferris, Dacia J]
"Tesla Energy ramps hiring at Giga New York for accelerated solar production"
, Teslarati, September 9, 2020 and partly as it gained more experience in installing the Solar Roof, hired more solar installers, and also sought growth through third-party installers. After delays in solar deployments due partly to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, Tesla's 2020 solar deployments grew by 17% in 2020 to 205 megawatts of generating capacity, including 86 megawatts during the fourth quarter, up 59% from the 4th quarter of 2019.[Robinson, David]
"Tesla's solar energy business is bouncing back"
, ''Buffalo News'', January 28, 2021
Jobs commitment
In 2018, Tesla committed to providing 1,460 jobs at the factory by April 2020. By early 2020, employment at Giga New York had increased to 1,834, including 376 Panasonic employees who left the factory when Panasonic ceased manufacturing solar panels there later in 2020.[ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, employment at the factory decreased to 474 as of April 30, 2020, and the company requested and received another year (until 2021) to meet its hiring commitment.][ The company received another extension until the end of 2021 to reach the employment target at the plant. If it had failed to meet that deadline, the state could have imposed a $41 million fine. By the end of 2021, the number of employees at the factory had increased to more than 1,460, meeting the commitment.][
]
Criticism and lawsuit
The project has faced criticism and legal actions regarding allegations of inflated job promises, cost overruns, construction delays, bid rigging
Bid rigging is a fraudulent scheme in procurement auctions resulting in non-competitive bids and can be performed by corrupt officials, by firms in an orchestrated act of collusion, or between officials and firms. This form of collusion is illegal ...
, a perceived lack of effort from Musk, and claims that the deal was, in effect, a bailout of Musk's cousins Peter and Lyndon Rive. In April 2022, a Delaware trial court dismissed the lawsuit by Tesla shareholders, holding that Musk did not impermissibly interfere in the acquisition even though he "was more involved in the process than a conflicted fiduciary should be", and that since the acquisition "Tesla’s value has massively increased".[Kolodny, Lora and Jessica Bursztynsky]
["Elon Musk wins shareholder lawsuit over Tesla’s $2.6 billion SolarCity acquisition"
CNBC, April 27, 2022
See also
* List of Tesla factories
References
External links
Official website
{{Tesla, Inc.
Manufacturing plants in the United States
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
Buildings and structures in Erie County, New York
2017 establishments in New York (state)