SolarCity Bets on Huge Solar Demand Growth With Acquisition of Silevo

Before this acquisition, SolarCity has been an installer and financer of solar rooftop systems for both residential and commercial customers. Now the company is entering the development and manufacturing business. Silevo’s Hangzhou plant currently operates a 32 megawatt production line, but the plant has capacity for a total of 230 megawatts. The company has been discussing opening a 1,000-megawatt facility in New York state and SolarCity said it will continue those discussions.

In its announcement, SolarCity said that if just 40% of the world’s electricity were to be generated by photovoltaics by 2040, demand for solar installations would rise to more than 400,000 megawatts annually for each of the next 25 years:

We absolutely believe that solar power can and will become the world’s predominant source of energy within our lifetimes, but there are obviously a lot of panels that have to be manufactured and installed in order for that to happen. The plans we are announcing today, while substantial compared to current industry, are small in that context.

SolarCity’s chairman is Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA).

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