Tesla’s solar installation on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is not just a product launch of the company – it’s the first real proof the company’s offering up..
Tesla’s solar installation on the Hawaiian island of Kauai is not just a product launch of the company – it’s the first real proof the company’s offering that its acquisition of SolarCity is not only smart, but necessary.
Necessary, because it will help Tesla achieve its grand vision of making solar (and other renewable) energy a practical and cost-effective option for power generation everywhere, not just where the sun shines strongest.
At the unveiling of the Kauai power facility , Tesla CTO JB Straubel looked a little out of place with his tucked-in blue shirt and dark pants, speaking as he did in a lineup that included numerous Hawaiian government representatives wearing flower print shirts and sandals. But Straubel seemed confident and at ease despite the visual discrepancies, if more understated in his enjoyment of the event than the gregarious local utility executives.
There’s good reason for Straubel to savor the moment, of course – some financial observers had been wary of Tesla’s acquisition of SolarCity , following the announcement of its intent to do so last year, and continuing through the closure of the deal in November. Why, the critics argued, did it make sense to tie an electric car maker to this company that made and sold solar panels?
It was a question that Tesla seemed to think had an obvious answer; Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied to questions about the logic behind the tie-up with obvious exasperation at multiple press events and during quarterly earnings calls. Asked about whether SolarCity might prove a burdensome financial risk for Tesla to take on, Musk initially demurred before being seemingly unable to resist calling the question dumb and highlighting why, based on current balance sheets, the opposite was actually true.
But nothing can answer critics quite like a demonstration – and Tesla has now shown why the two companies stand to benefit from being under one roof in a few different ways. The first came before the ink was dry on the acquisition, when Tesla revealed its solar roof tile product , at an event co-hosted by SolarCity, which also launched its Powerwall 2 home energy storage solution. The second was the Kauai facility unveiling, which showed how Tesla can scale its potential in the consumer market to suit ever-larger projects for commercial and utility clients, too.
