Tesla Solar Sales Declined for 4 Qtrs. Then Tesla Stopped Publishing the Numbers

The article notes they think Tesla should be about to find customers for solar easily, so asked, what's going on? And that a high point for them was installing 100 megawatts -- which struck me as small.

Some quick googling and clicking result #1 (risky, I know) showed this [1] claiming that 2024 was the second record-breaking solar installation year in a row. And that 50 gigawatts had been installed in the US.

That makes me think:

* Isn't Tesla Solar's max 100Mw number rather, well, tiny? A small drop? Why, for a company like Tesla?

* The article's exactly right. They _should_ be able to find more customers.

Does anyone have more insight? Does this part of the company have a good reputation?

[1] https://seia.org/research-resources/us-solar-market-insight/

Everyone I know who’s looked said they cost too much. I think they’re walking away from a commodity market because they don’t want to spend time on lower margin business lines.

True much more money to be made hyping crypto, AI and robotics.

> The article's exactly right. They _should_ be able to find more customers.

It's an ultra-competitive commodity business; the business goes to whoever will sell and install the things the cheapest.

The market shifted. Solar used to be a luxury product, with only some environment-conscious rich people putting them on their roof. In that market the solar shingles made a lot of sense.

But solar has become a commodity product. Panel-wise the big bucks is in massive industrial greenfield installations, but Tesla's private-label brand can't compete on that market. In the residential market they are competing with every single local contractor who's willing to make a few bucks throwing bargain-bin panels on your roof, and their own system of proprietary panels and subcontractors can't compete with that either - especially when they force you to buy a power wall as well.