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Tesla reported a new quarterly energy storage installation record of 530 MWh and 54 MW of solar deployments for October-December 2019.
The fourth-quarter (Q4) total included the first deployments of Tesla’s newest battery storage product, the commercial-scale integrated storage system called Megapack.
“Since the introduction of this product, the level of interest and orders from various global project developers and utilities has surpassed our expectations,” said Tesla.
The company deployed 1.65 GWh of energy storage in 2019, which is more than it installed in all prior years combined.
The Q4 solar deployments were up by 26% quarter-on-quarter but down 26% year-on-year. Tesla said it continued to ramp both Solarglass Roof production and installations, but did not provide specific figures.
“We are seeing, from a small base, exponential growth in demand and output for Solarglass Roof,” said Musk on a Wednesday earnings call profiling the results. “It’s difficult to predict what the number will be this year.”
Details on solar and storage deployments are available in the table.
| Q4 2019 | Q3 2019 | Q2 2019 | Q1 2019 | Q4 2018 | |
| Solar deployed (MW) | 54 | 43 | 29 | 47 | 73 |
| Storage deployed (MWh) | 530 | 477 | 415 | 229 | 225 |
“The thing we’re going to be really focused on is increasing battery production capacity, that’s very fundamental,” said Musk. “We’ve got to make sure we’ve got a very steep ramp in battery production and continue to improve the cost per kilowatt-hour of the batteries.”
Tesla’s revenue from the energy generation and storage business rose to USD 436 million in Q4 2019 from USD 372 million a year earlier. The next table contains Tesla’s Q4 and full-year unaudited results.
| Unaudited results in millions of USD | Q4 2019 | Q3 2019 | Q4 2018 | 2019 | 2018 |
| Total revenue | 7,384 | 6,303 | 7,226 | 24,578 | 21,461 |
| – of which energy generation and storage | 436 | 402 | 372 | 1,531 | 1,555 |
| – of which automotive sales | 6,143 | 5,132 | 6,074 | 19,952 | 17,632 |
| Profit (loss) from operations | 359 | 261 | 414 | (69) | (388) |
| Net profit (loss) to common shareholders | 105 | 143 | 140 | (862) | (976) |
| Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period | 6,783 | 5,826 | 4,277 | 6,783 | 4,277 |
“We expect positive GAAP net income going forward, with possible temporary exceptions, particularly around the launch and ramp of new products. Continuous volume growth, capacity expansion, and cash generation remain the main focus,” said Tesla in the latest update.
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This article is adapted from content written by the team at Renewables Now. It has been republished here under a limited partnership.
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