--- title: SolarCity Elon Musk: Efficient Solar Panel Unveiled description: SolarCity unveiled Friday a new solar panel product that the company says will be the "world's most efficient." canonical: https://time.com/4059400/solarcity-efficient-panel/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-02T19:50:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:35.721Z article:section: Science og:title: SolarCity Elon Musk: Efficient Solar Panel Unveiled og:description: SolarCity unveiled Friday a new solar panel product that the company says will be the "world's most efficient." og:url: https://time.com/4059400/solarcity-efficient-panel/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07f23f28aa8f962c/698866ae428a9ee05accf743/solar-panel-residential.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5282 og:image:height: 2971 og:image:alt: solar panel residential og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: SolarCity Elon Musk: Efficient Solar Panel Unveiled twitter:description: SolarCity unveiled Friday a new solar panel product that the company says will be the "world's most efficient." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt07f23f28aa8f962c/698866ae428a9ee05accf743/solar-panel-residential.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # SolarCity Unveils 'World's Most Efficient' Panel > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=92898d36-3269-4a57-98c6-9609c2544814&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Is Climate Change Causing Extreme Weather? [Watch (HLS stream): Is Climate Change Causing Extreme Weather?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LQufbOt9.m3u8) (2:04)  _Published 2013-11-11. Is the frequency of extreme weather events a sign that global warming is gaining pace and exceeding predictions? Climate scientist Bill Patzert explains._  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2015 7:50 PM UTC  Workers installing solar panels on roof framework of new home, Netherlands Workers installing solar panels on roof framework of new home, Netherlands Getty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Oct 2, 2015 7:50 PM UTC SolarCity unveiled Friday a new solar panel product that the company says will be the “world’s most efficient.” The new panel, to be manufactured in the U.S., will produce 30 to 40% more power than standard panels while costing less than the average panel now when manufactured at scale, the company said. “The breakthrough here is high efficiency at a lower cost,” said SolarCity Chief Technology Officer Peter Rive in an interview. “In the past those have been opposed to one another.” The solar power industry has grown at a rapid clip in recent years as panels have become more efficient and the cost has decreased. Last year alone, nearly 200,000 homes and businesses installed solar power. SolarCity—which is backed by Elon Musk, who is also behind SpaceX and the electric car company Tesla—has become the leader within the residential solar power industry, arranging 1 in every 3 residential installations in the U.S. The new panel announced Friday us a hybrid between a traditional crystalline panel and a silicon model, has a module efficiency greater than 22%. Many [commercially available panels](http://cleantechnica.com/2015/05/01/3-solar-cell-efficiency-records-just-4-days/) have module efficiencies between 15 and 20%, meaning they produce less electricity per the same amount sunlight. SolarCity says the panels are intended for homes, businesses and schools, but the product will also work for large-scale projects, including utilities. The move is aimed at helping SolarCity company keep solar power cost effective even after a federal tax credit expires next year, Rive said. Currently, the federal government provides a 30% credit to help homeowners pay to install solar panels. “We’re lowering the costs so that we’re able to control our own destiny,” said Rive. “The company has been laser focused on cost reduction and this represents a \[dramatic\] change in our cost structure.” Solar power [accounted](http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=427&t=3) for less than 1% of U.S. electricity generation in 2014, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But in recent years policymakers have increasingly seen solar power as a viable renewable energy source to help wean the world off of fossil fuels in the face of climate change. Last year, solar power made up [nearly a third](http://www.seia.org/news/us-installs-62-gw-solar-pv-2014-30-over-2013) of new energy capacity. Policies like the tax credit and [other incentives](http://time.com/3947741/solar-power-white-house/) from the U.S. federal government have driven the first steps in that transformation, but experts say room for growth remains. A 2014 [report](http://www.iea.org/newsroomandevents/pressreleases/2014/september/how-solar-energy-could-be-the-largest-source-of-electricity-by-mid-century.html) from the International Energy Agency suggested that solar power could generate more than a quarter of the world’s energy supply by 2050. “All energy is ultimately derived for the sun and harvesting it directly through solar power seems to be the best way to transition to renewable energy,” said Rive. “The transformation will take many decades but we’re seeing the rate of growth in solar being massive.” ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Extreme weather was more frequent in recent years. Is it a sign that global warming is gaining pace and exceeding predictions? Now, has extreme weather been more frequent in recent years? The evidence is definitely to the contrary. The United States has always had extreme weather. We look back on our weather history. It's been punishing. Floods, droughts, tornadoes, hurricanes, great forest fires. Is global warming happening? No doubt about it. We're living in a warmer world. We're living in a melting world, sea levels are rising. Now, direct evidence of the foot print or the finger print of global warming, we're seeing more frequent, more intense and longer lasting heat waves. As far as hurricanes, tornadoes, forest fires, floods and drought; the evidence is definitely not in. The consensus among almost all scientists is, is that it's a small finger print, not a large foot print. But what is true is that in this country, in the United States, we live in many areas with great risk to drought, [ NOISE ] to tornadoes, to hurricanes. And so part of the dialog is not only extreme weather and global warming but is the amount of risk we can tolerate. Now, looking to the future, global change, global warming it definitely is accelerating and it will have an impact on extreme weather. But at this point, not much. 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