Last week, Tesla investors got a sneak peek at what the future has in store for the mobility giant’s Gigafactory—including plans to power the factory with the world’s largest rooftop solar farm. The 70-megawatt solar farm will claim that title by a significant margin, too—it’s expected to be around seven times larger than the next closest in size, a Whirlpool Distribution Center in Perris, California, according to Electrek.
A majority of the electricity needed to power the factory will come from the rooftop solar array and additional solar installations on the ground. Any surplus power will be stored in Tesla’s Powerpack batteries for future use. The plant will be more efficient, and will not produce any carbon emissions by using renewable energy to power it, according to the brand.
How the factory will use heat and water is novel, too. Apparently, the majority of the building’s heat will come from harnessing and distributing waste heat created in the battery production process. There will be a closed-loop water water system that will recirculate roughly 400,000 gallons of water that get filtered through six different treatments, reducing fresh water usage by 80%, Tesla claims. It’s a significant move, both environmentally and economically, for Tesla’s Nevada factory—especially considering the years-long western drought.
The company expects a huge production capacity when phase two of the Gigafactory is complete—35 GWh of battery cells and 50 GWh of battery packs annually.