Octagonal, two-tiered Tesla solar roof powers heritage carousel

Tesla might be having a few legal issues with a few disgruntled Tesla solar roof customers in the US at the moment, but it has one very happy customer in Buffalo, New York, where its integrated PV tiles are now powering a heritage carousel.

The solar roof tiles, which were donated for the project at a cost that sources have estimated at up around $US150,000, cover the carousel’s entire two-tiered octagonal roof, that houses the newly restored 1924 Spillman Engineering Park Style Carousel.

The Buffalo Heritage Carousel celebrated the facility’s unique solar installation on Facebook on Tuesday, sharing Tesla’s Tweet of a video of the facility (below), and noting that the tiles were manufactured “only 3 miles from Canalside,” at Tesla’s local Buffalo plant.

“We have a monitoring System supplied by Tesla which indicates real-time data from the Solar Roof! Please come by and take many rides with friends and family and … marvel [at] clean, renewable, solar technology generously donated by Tesla!!”

In a report in the Buffalo News published in October last year, New York Assemblyman Sean Ryan, who was behind the provision of $US600,000 in state funds toward the carousel’s restoration, said he had urged Tesla to get involved.

“I discussed the… project with the people at Tesla and told them it would be a great demonstration of a product made in Buffalo,” he said. “I’m so glad people will get to see the fruits of their taxpayer investments – a beautiful carousel powered by a solar roof made three miles down the road.”

And a great demonstration it is – at a time when the product hasn’t had the best press, due to a hike in installation costs that has motivated some customers to sue the California-based company.

It’s all part of the Tesla solar roof tile merry-go-round.