exclusive - tesla to close a dozen solar facilities in nine states: documents - solar traffic light system

Los Angeles/San FranciscoReuters)-
Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Tesla（TSLA. O)
Last week, the company cut 9% of its workforce, dramatically reducing the residential solar business it bought two years ago for $2.
According to three internal documents and seven current and former Tesla Solar employees, the deal amounted to $6 billion.
The latest cuts to what used to be "Sun City"-
Sales and installation company founded by two cousins of Tesla CEO Elon Musk-
According to the company's internal documents, including the closure of about 12 installation facilities and the termination of retail partnerships with Home Depot. (HD. N)
Now and former employees say it generates about half of sales.
About 60 installations remain open, according to a list of internal companies reviewed by Reuters.
An internal e-mail mentions 14 planned closures, but the other lists include only 13 of them.
Tesla declined to comment on which factories it planned to close, how many employees would be unemployed or their share of the solar workforce.
The company said it would cut its overall energy team. -
Including batteries that store electricity-
Consistent with the wider 9% layoffs.
"We continue to expect Tesla's solar and battery businesses to be the same size as its car business in the long run," the company said in a statement to Reuters.
The closure of previously unreported businesses raises new questions about the viability of cash. -
Tesla's solar business is limited, and Musk's reasons for merging are limited, which he once called "mindless. "-
But some investors have offered to bail out an affiliated company at the expense of Tesla shareholders.
Before the merger, Musk served as chairman of the board of directors of Sola City.
According to internal mail, the closure targets of the installation offices are California, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas, New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Arizona and Delaware.
The company also fired dozens of solar customer service workers at call centers in Nevada and Utah, some of whom were laid off last week, according to former Tesla employees.
These employees speak anonymously because public comments may violate their severance pay terms.
"These days have been very difficult. -
No one can deny that, "wrote one of Tesla's managers in a separate internal e-mail to customer service employees shortly after the announcement of layoffs.
Tesla has been burning money because it is trying to reach its goal of producing 5,000 Model 3 electric cars a week after production delays.
The company is under pressure from investors to turn a profit without using Wall Street's extra capital.
The total number of solar labor cuts is still unclear.
Some of the people who closed the factory were moved elsewhere, now speaking to former employees.
Solarcity hired about 15,000 people at the end of 2015, but thousands have been laid off since then.
The end of Home Depot's partnership, which allows solar energy to be sold in about 800 stores, is part of Tesla's greater efforts to absorb solar energy. -
The final brand and 90 of its 109 American brands. S.
The company said retail stores and their websites.
Tesla said: "Tesla's stores have the highest walking volume in the retail industry in the country. "
Analysts have questioned Tesla's plans for its solar business, which recently cut staff and retail operations.
Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research, said: "In fact, they seem to be saying,'We don't have a strategy to sell solar energy', adding that buying solar cells"looks pretty bad at the moment. "
"In the first quarter of this year, Tesla installed a 76 MW solar system. -
Compared with Sun City, which exceeded 200 megawatts in the first quarter of 2016, it was the industry leader at that time.
When Tesla announced its quarterly results in February, it said growth in solar deployment would resume later this year.
The decline in Tesla's solar sales could also jeopardize the future of its joint venture with Panasonic, which announced that Tesla would acquire Solarcity in 2016 and produce solar components at a new plant in Buffalo, New York.
Tesla reached an agreement with New York State requiring the company to spend $5 billion in 10 years.
If Tesla fails to fulfil these and other obligations, the company may be required to pay tens of millions of dollars in fines at milestones, lose leases or be forced to write down assets, the company told investors in May documents.
Responding to Reuters questions, Tesla said it was fulfilling its factory recruitment and support commitments.
In March, a Delaware judge dismissed Tesla's lawsuit against shareholders of the company over solar trading.
The lawsuit accused Tesla's board of violating shareholder liability by approving the merger.
Lyndon Rive, the founder of Solarcity, was Musk's cousin and left Tesla last year, but he did not respond to requests for comment.
The move to end the long-standing Home Depot partnership blinded many employees as Tesla recently announced an expansion of the arrangement in February.
Austin Perea, a research analyst at GTM, estimates that the partnership has recently accounted for about half of sales, partly because Tesla has taken steps to cut other sales and marketing costs. Such third-
According to Clean Energy Research Company, party retail partnerships are one of the most expensive ways to sell solar energy, partly because retailers cut costs in every sale.
According to GTM Research, the cost of winning customers through Astore-like Home Depot can be as high as $7,000 per system, compared with an average installation cost of $4,000 nationwide.
Home Depot spokesman Stephen Holmes said the relationship between Home Depot and Tesla will continue until the end of the year, adding that Home Depot will continue to build partnerships with its competitor Sunrun. (RUN. O)
In many undisclosed stores.
Over the past year, Tesla has stepped up efforts to sell solar cells and energy storage batteries in its retail stores, which Musk said last year was "a more efficient demand generation channel".
At the same time, Tesla closed the door. -to-
The former employee said that door sales had been one of Solarcity's most successful ways of contacting new customers, and salespeople were no longer allowed to hold local events or buy online sales leads.
This strategy is the standard practice in most competitive residential solar industries.
A former employee told Reuters that Home Depot's partnership costs a lot, but it's also part of Tesla's solar panel sales.
"It's an expensive account," said the former employee, "but it does bring in all the revenue.