Elon Musk's solar ambitions have shifted from powering homes to powering Tesla's AI era
Tesla inked deals to purchase electricity from two utility-scale solar power projects.The projects have a combined solar capacity of roughly 600 megawatts.Tesla's latest power purchases come as the company invests heavily in AI and robotics.About a decade ago, Tesla entered its solar-for-homes era with its contentious acquisition of SolarCity.Now, Tesla's solar dreams are taking a different shape as the company enters its AI era.Tesla has inked two long-term agreements to purchase power from utility-scale solar projects totaling about 600 megawatts of planned capacity.ContourGlobal, a global power producer, announced on Tuesday that Tesla signed a long-term agreement to purchase 1 terawatt-hour of electricity a year from Project Sterling, ContourGlobal's solar and battery storage project in Arizona. The deal covers about 90% of the project's expected output — roughly enough electricity to power about 100,000 US homes a year.Renewable-energy developer Zelestra separately announced Tuesday that Tesla would purchase the entire output of its 140-megawatt Lumen Farm solar project in northeast Texas.
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Tesla inked deals to purchase electricity from two utility-scale solar power projects.The projects have a combined solar capacity of roughly 600 megawatts.Tesla's latest power purchases come as the company invests heavily in AI and robotics.About a decade ago, Tesla entered its solar-for-homes era with its contentious acquisition of SolarCity.Now, Tesla's solar dreams are taking a different shape as the company enters its AI era.Tesla has inked two long-term agreements to purchase power from utility-scale solar projects totaling about 600 megawatts of planned capacity.ContourGlobal, a global power producer, announced on Tuesday that Tesla signed a long-term agreement to purchase 1 terawatt-hour of electricity a year from Project Sterling, ContourGlobal's solar and battery storage project in Arizona. The deal covers about 90% of the project's expected output — roughly enough electricity to power about 100,000 US homes a year.Renewable-energy developer Zelestra separately announced Tuesday that Tesla would purchase the entire output of its 140-megawatt Lumen Farm solar project in northeast Texas. Zelestra CEO Phil North said in a statement that the project will support Tesla's "growing energy needs in Texas."The deals reflect Elon Musk's latest arc from leveraging solar power for consumer homes to solar use in industrial settings, which could include AI infrastructure.Tesla's humble $2.6B solar beginningsWhen the CEO proposed buying SolarCity, a rooftop solar installer and financier, in 2016, Musk framed the $2.6 billion deal as a way to create a seamless, end-to-end solution combining solar energy, battery storage, and EVs."Tesla customers can drive clean cars and they can use our battery packs to help consume energy more efficiently, but they still need access to the most sustainable energy source that's available: the sun," Tesla said at the time.The rooftop solar business didn't disappear. Tesla said in its first-quarter shareholder update in April that it had begun "meaningful customer deployments" of residential solar panels produced at its New York Gigafactory.
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- Tesla inked deals to purchase electricity from two utility-scale solar power projects.The projects have a combined solar capacity of roughly 600 megawatts.Tesla's latest power purchases come as the company invests heavily in AI and robotics.About a decade ago, Tesla entered its solar-for-homes era with its contentious acquisition of SolarCity.Now, Tesla's solar dreams are taking a different shape as the company enters its AI era.Tesla has inked two long-term agreements to purchase power from utility-scale solar projects totaling about 600 megawatts of planned capacity.ContourGlobal, a global power producer, announced on Tuesday that Tesla signed a long-term agreement to purchase 1 terawatt-hour of electricity a year from Project Sterling, ContourGlobal's solar and battery storage project in Arizona. The deal covers about 90% of the project's expected output — roughly enough electricity to power about 100,000 US homes a year.Renewable-energy developer Zelestra separately announced Tuesday that Tesla would purchase the entire output of its 140-megawatt Lumen Farm solar project in northeast Texas.
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Elon Musk's solar ambitions have shifted from powering homes to powering Tesla's AI era
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