Decline in Tesla’s Solar Panel Installations, Yet Battery Sales are Soaring

Tesla’s once-leading solar business is in decline, according to the latest figures from its fourth-quarter 2023 earnings report. Crucially, the automaker revealed that its solar deployments cratered 36% to a total of 223 megawatts (MW) last year, down from 348 MW in 2022. In Q4 2023, Tesla’s solar deployments dropped 59% year-over-year to 41 MW — down from 100 MW in Q4 2022. However, Tesla’s energy generation and storage business is comparatively booming (surprise, surprise). The company said its 2023 energy storage deployments — which include Powerwall home batteries and utility-scale Megapacks, topped 14,724 megawatt hours (MWh), up 125% from the year earlier.

Tesla’s once-thriving solar business is taking a nosedive, according to the latest data from its fourth-quarter earnings report of 2023.

Crucially, the automaker revealed that its solar deployments have plummeted by 36% to a total of 223 megawatts (MW) last year, a sharp drop from 348 MW in 2022. This decline comes in stark contrast to the overall growth of the solar industry in the United States, which added a massive 33 gigawatts of solar capacity in 2023, according to estimates from SEIA, a solar industry group.

It was a devastating year for Tesla solar, marking its worst performance since 2020. However, if we examine the fourth quarter of 2023 specifically, the numbers are even bleaker. In Q4 of that year, Tesla’s solar deployments plummeted by 59% compared to the same quarter in 2022, dropping to just 41 MW.

But all is not lost for Tesla, as its energy generation and storage business is experiencing significant growth (no surprises there). The company reported that its energy storage deployments in 2023, which include home batteries called Powerwalls and utility-scale Megapacks, reached a whopping 14,724 megawatt hours (MWh), a massive 125% increase from the previous year.

Tesla acknowledged that there may be some fluctuations in energy deployments from quarter to quarter and their Q4 results reflect this. In Q4 of 2023, the company deployed 3,202 MWh, which is a decrease from the previous three quarters but still an improvement from the same quarter in 2022.