Elon Musk’s Tesla Solar Panel That Cost Nearly $1 Billion Is A Bad Deal And ‘Boondoggle’ For Taxpayers

The New York State has paid nearly $1 billion since 2014 to building what Elon Musk visualized as the largest solar panel factory in the Western Hemisphere but the deal has failed short of those lofty expectations and it has proven to be a disastrous boondoggle for taxpayers, according to a report.

Elon Musk’s Tesla Solar Panel That Cost Nearly $1 Billion Is A Bad Deal And ‘Boondoggle’ For Taxpayers (PHOTO: New York Post)

New York State Tesla Solar Panel A Subsidized ‘Boondoggle’?

A Tesla solar panel factory that the state of New York spent $1 billion to anchor has failed to attract suppliers or other spinoff  companies to the region, and the automaker is mostly utilizing the plant as an office for hundreds of data analysts.

When New York’s then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved plans for the huge factory in 2013, he praised the project as a linchpin of the “clean energy revolution” that vowed, to create 850 permanent jobs and at least 500 construction jobs.

In 2015, then-New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a construction ceremony for the factory in Buffalo “You almost have to pinch yourself, right? And too good to be true.” However, critics say Cuomo was right about the “too good to be true” part.

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Tesla Solar Panel Is A Bad Deal, Lawmakers Say

Senator Sean Ryan a Democrat who represents Buffalo said that it was a bad deal.

The suppliers Cuomo believed would flock to the manufacturing hub never showed up, and most workers who live on site are underpaid, desk-bound data analysts working on other sectors of Tesla’s business, not its solar panel operation, according to New York Post.

New York also paid to build and also owns the expensive industrial area, which is equipped with $240 million worth of solar panel manufacturing equipment.

However, Tesla’s cost for leasing the space is just $1 annually. Musk said the industrial site would churn out enough solar panel shingles to cover 1,000 roofs by 2020.

Most of the solar panel manufacturing equipment bought by the state has been sold at a bargain or thrown out.

The state has approved amending the terms of its subsidy a dozen times over the years, including by the number of jobs that must be created in manufacturing as well as shifting deadlines to accommodate the company.

Cuomo’s spokesman defended the  Tesla solar panel project by stating there are more jobs on the site now than when it was an empty steel mill lot.

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