As the Reuters news agency reports, Tesla started the mass production of solar shingles at the end of last year. Tesla is producing the shingles at its plant in Buffalo, New York. The company plans initially to supply customers that have already signed up by making a deposit of $1,000 last year. The electricity generated can for example be stored in the Powerwall , which Tesla offers as self-sufficient storage for solar plants.

Just under 1.6 million photovoltaic systems were operating in Germany in 2016, generating 5.9% of the country’s total electricity output. However, the boom in solar plants on the roofs of private homes actually ended in 2012 at the latest, after feed-in remuneration was significantly reduced. According to figures from the Federal Ministry of Economics, the number of jobs in the photovoltaic industry in Germany was cut in half between 2012 and 2013 from 100,300 to around 56,000. The Ministry sees this as the result of a non-sustainable photovoltaic expansion.