Tesla’s energy storage arm caps 2022 with ‘highest level’ of deployments ever
The growth keeps coming for Tesla’s energy storage business.
On Wednesday, the automaker said its home and utility-scale battery deployments reached 6.5 gigawatt hours (GWh) during its fiscal 2022, calling it “by far the highest level of deployments we have achieved.” That’s up from about 4 GWh in 2021.
For context, the average American home consumes 10,632 kilowatt hours — just over 0.01 GWh — per year, according to the U.S. Energy Department.
In the fourth quarter alone, Tesla said energy storage deployments reached 2.5 GWh — up from 2.1 GWh in Q3. Tesla’s energy storage business includes its Powerwall home batteries and its much larger Megapacks.
Tesla also updated investors on its solar business, saying deployments totaled 348 megawatts in 2022. In the final quarter of the year, the automaker’s solar deployments fell just short of recent highs, hitting 100 MW in Q4.
The disclosures cap a supremely wobbly fiscal 2022 for Tesla.
In July, the automaker’s solar energy arm announced its “strongest” quarter in four years, with 106 megawatts deployed in Q2. Tesla said something similar about its energy storage business in Q3, declaring in October that it recorded “by far the highest level [of growth it has] ever achieved,” with home and utility-scale battery deployments rocketing 62% year over year. Tesla also dipped its toes in the Texas retail electricity market with an invite-only plan called Tesla Electric.
Yet, Tesla reportedly put solar roof installations on ice during this timeframe, and one of its Megapack batteries caught fire at a California power storage site in September, state utility PG&E said. Tesla also missed some Wall Street analysts’ expectations in recent quarters — falling short on revenue in Q3 and deliveries in Q3 and Q4. Earlier on Wednesday, Tesla’s stock price was trading at a two-year low.
