Elon Musk is already leading the electric car space with Tesla.
Now, he wants to make real impact with solar panels, too. SolarCity, the largest installer of solar panels for residential homes in the United States, and Musk, its company chairman, revealed what they boast is the world's most efficient rooftop solar panel in New York City's Times Square on Friday, Oct. 2.
This solar panel is said to reach an efficiency of 22.04 percent and produce 30 to 40 percent more power than a traditional panel does. They also claim this panel responds to high temperatures better than its competitors' panels.
"I'm really excited about this—it's the best solar panel on the planet and it empowers us from 2017 and beyond to control our own destiny," Peter Rive, SolarCity co-founder and CTO, told Mashable.
Added solar energy expert John Farrell: "I think the big story is SolarCity Installed one-third of all panels on residential property in the U.S. in the last year, so whatever they've done will get to a lot of customers."
One of the keys to SolarCity's new panel, according to Mashable, is that the company has been able to produce the products at a significantly low cost, so if government tax breaks for panel installation expire, SolarCity will still make money.
"That's been the singular focus of the company ... to continue to get the costs down," Rive said.
SolarCity reportedly plans to produce up to 10,000 solar panels daily once its factory in Buffalo hits full strength next year.
