A solar panel is displayed on a wall next to signs at the entrance to the new Tesla Inc. showroom. from New York.
Mark Kauzlarich | Bloomberg | Getty Images
A US federal agency is considering the complaint of a former Tesla employee about how the company managed and communicated about the risks of fire and defects of its solar installations, CNBC found out from the documents received through a Freedom of Information request Act.
The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is continuing an investigation and has also interviewed former Tesla employee who filed the complaint in the spring of 2019, Steven Henkes, who was then the quality manager of the Tesla solar field.
CNBC found out about the investigation by requesting the CPSC a full copy of the whistleblower’s complaint. The agency declined to provide a full complaint, but revealed: “The records we hold are linked to an open investigation and consist of internal and external reports.” The purpose and focus of the accuracy of the investigation are not known at this time.
Henkes is also suing Tesla, accusing him of retaliation.
In a lawsuit filed in Alameda County in November 2020, Henkes said he was fired from his Tesla job on Aug. 3, 2020, after raising internal security concerns and then filing official complaints with government offices when Tesla did not act to accurately remedy and communicate with customers about what it said were unacceptable fire hazards in the company’s solar installations.
Henkes declined to speak directly with CNBC, but answered several questions via email through his lawyer, Robert Wallace. Henkes believes that “there is still a real threat of fire due to serial defects in Tesla installations,” says a statement from Wallace. “Consumers have not been adequately informed about the risks.”
Tesla entered the solar energy business in late 2016, when it acquired SolarCity for $ 2.6 billion. Among other things, Tesla Energy installs photovoltaic solar systems on the roof, terrestrial and car.
Tesla does not generate solar energy alone. “Energy generation and storage” accounted for only 6% of the company’s total revenues in 2020, but increased by 30% compared to last year, according to its financial documents at the end of the year. In a January 27 earnings call, Musk told analysts, “We pay special attention to solar energy and it’s growing fast. So, I think it won’t be long before Tesla is by far the market leader in solar energy. “
Tesla systems have been installed in homes, including military housing units in Fort Bliss and other bases, schools in the unified school district of LA, and commercial facilities, including Walmart stores and Amazon warehouses.
As previously reported by CNBC, Tesla’s solar installations have caught fire previously. In August 2019, Walmart sued Tesla for negligence after rooftop solar systems installed by Tesla Energy ignited at several Walmart locations.
In court, Walmart said Tesla failed to properly monitor, repair and maintain these systems, even after the fires. The fires caused significant damage and faulty systems pose serious risks to employees, customers and companies, according to a Walmart complaint at the time.
On November 5, 2019, the companies issued a joint statement saying they were looking forward to “a safe re-energization of our sustainable energy systems.” The exact terms of the companies’ settlement – and the costs for Tesla – were never disclosed. A Walmart spokesman emphasized a subsequent statement in January 2020 stating: “Part of this activity may include the replacement of certain solar equipment”.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The risk of fires is still very low for solar photovoltaic energy, whether it’s home systems or on a larger scale, according to Greg Sellers, CEO of a solar maintenance and repair company in Morgan Hill, California. Research by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems supports his field observation.
Without commenting specifically on Tesla, Sellers explained: “For those of us in terms of repair and safety, any incident is too big. Fires are still very rare. That’s why I get so much publicity when it happens.” He said that, in general, a fire is more likely to be caused by a failed installation practice than a component failure. And he said solar installers have been getting better as these systems proliferate.
Public safety concern
CNBC has asked the CPSC – a federal agency charged with “protecting consumers from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical or mechanical hazard” – for a copy of Henkes’ full complaint after it was mentioned in its fourth-quarter lawsuit of the year 2020.
The chief officer of the CPSC’s Freedom of Information Act, Abioye Ella Mosheim, refused, citing an exemption for records related to an open investigation. She wrote: “The records you requested come from CPSC’s active law enforcement investigation files.
Henkes, through his lawyer, Wallace, confirmed that the CPSC interviewed Henkes and asked former Tesla employee to send additional materials to the agency. The items Henkes sent to the federals in a “CP-15” complaint included:
· Failure analysis reports from a third-party engineering firm
· Internal meeting minutes, reports and emails
· Examples of customer notification
· Photos of thermal events related to customer homes
· Minutes of meetings and presentations about a supplier called Amphenol and Tesla
Henkes wants Tesla to “rethink its clarity with the customer,” his lawyer said on his behalf. The former employee was working to implement a “permanent countermeasure” for the problems he found before he was fired, the lawyer added. However, Henkes claims that he was “continuously hindered and then fired because he continued to work for public safety” at the end of his term at Tesla.
Another former Tesla solar employee, who asked to remain unnamed because he still works in the solar industry, confirmed many of Henkes’ claims in the public trial.
In particular, this person said that many of Tesla’s solar system installations, especially those that include certain roof rack components and Amphenol H4 connectors, pose a significant fire risk and that Tesla’s remediation or modification efforts were not transparent. or effective. The person also said that the company has not yet remedied or eliminated all systems with known fire risks.
Tesla used to outsource remediation efforts and the maintenance of its elderly solar fleet, but it cancels at least some of these contracts and brings the process back inside, according to this former employee.