Tesla Gigafactory: A Road to a Sustainable Future
By Garima Dabi
“I’d put my money on the Sun and solar energy, what a source of power. We don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.”
— Thomas Edison
Advancement in renewable energy sources will accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. The future is renewable energy with sustainability; for this, the Sun is one of the infinite sources of clean and sustainable energy. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla company, is utilizing this excellent energy source with the Tesla Gigafactories.
Gigafactory, a stupendous operation that first took shape in June 2014 outside Sparks, Nevada desert, is a massive battery factory. The name Gigafactory comes from the word ‘Giga,’ the unit of measurement representing “billions.” The whole point of the splendid facility is to manufacture sums of batteries to store renewable energy like solar-energy in a more efficient way. The Gigafactory also aims to continue to drive down the price of these batteries, financially incentivizing the use of alternative energy sources.
Tesla says it currently produces more batteries in terms of kilowatt power than all other carmakers combined, making up about 60% of the world’s lithium-ion batteries. Musk has called the Gigafactory a “machine that builds the machine.” Musk believes that these factories can produce a ridiculous amount of energy and that 100 such Gigafactories could power the entire world. Right now, there are 3 Gigafactories of Tesla globally, one in Nevada (U.S.), Berlin(Germany), and Shanghai(China).
The current structure of Gigafactory has a footprint of more than 1.9 million square feet, which houses approximately 5.3 million square feet of operational space across several floors. Still, the Gigafactory hardly crossed its halfway mark. Tesla expects the Gigafactory to be the largest building in the world that is entirely powered by renewable energy sources. Designed to be a net-zero energy factory upon completion, the facility will be primarily powered by solar, and installation is already underway.
Today, the Gigafactory produces Model-3 electric motors and battery packs, in addition to Tesla’s energy storage products, Solar Roof, Powerwall, and Powerpack designed to work with renewable energy sources.
Let us have a glance at Tesla’s Solar Roof — Tile that turns sunlight into electricity.
Solar tiles are an excellent source of renewable energy for regions with high solar incidence. Solar tiles operate identically to the photovoltaic panels. The primary difference between them lies in their assembly: whereas photovoltaic panels are attached to an existing roof, solar tiles are part of the roof’s construction from the start, taking the place of regular tiling. These tiles will not degrade over time as the conventional asphalt or concrete tiles do.
Coming to its functioning, first, sunlight in the form of photons hit the solar panels on the roof or ground mount. The panels convert the energy from freed electrons to D.C., which then flows to an inverter and where the conversion takes place from D.C. to A.C. Then used to power the home.
For the effective operation of the tiles, it is necessary to install an inverter that converts the energy captured by each tile into electricity. With an integrated Tesla Powerwall battery, the energy collected during the day can be stored and made available at any time.
The quantity of energy captured is proportional to the amount of exposure to sunlight, which in turn is related to the climate and the location. Sunny days, of course, are more energy-efficient than on the cloudy ones.
Moving forward to renewable energy sources is an excellent way to tackle climate change and other environmental problems such as greenhouse gas emissions. Renewable energy is not all about the environment as it can also give a substantial boost to our economy in the form of new jobs. Let us not take this planet for granted. A transition to clean energy is all about a sustainable and bright future.
The Treatise is the official Newsletter of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), IIEST Shibpur Student Chapter. To subscribe to The Treatise to get articles about the latest developments in STEM that we’re excited about and learn about the developments that’ll change our future, click here.
