Dive Brief:

• In its third quarter earnings call, Tesla said it was on track to deliver its 100 MW, 129 MWh energy storage project in South Australia, which it promised to build in 100 days.

• Tesla also said its deployments in Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean were going “quite well.”

• Overall, the company said it deployed 110 MWh of energy storage systems in the third quarter, a 12% increase over the prior quarter and a 138% year-over-year increase.

Dive Insight:

Tesla shares took a beating in the stock market this week after reporting greater than expected earnings losses. The company reported a per share loss of $2.92 against analysts’ expectation of a loss of $2.29, according to Thomson Reuters.

Tesla attributed the losses to manufacturing bottlenecks that slowed production of its Model 3 electric car.

Tesla said its energy division grew in the quarter with a 138% year-over-year gain, much of that attributable to Powerwall deliveries. The company also said its South Australia project is 80% completed and on track to meet the 100 day delivery guarantee CEO Elon Musk made to state official in March.

Musk also jumped into the fray after Hurricane Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, saying Tesla could help rebuild the island’s decimated power grid. In an earnings letter, Musk said Tesla has sent solar panels, Powerpacks and hundreds of Powerwall energy storage systems to Puerto Rico.

“We are also actively working with various organizations to offer Tesla’s energy generation and storage solutions that are cost effective and can provide long-term distributed energy to the island,” he said in the letter.

Musk says Tesla is continuing to expand the presence of solar and storage product placement in its stores and service centers, which he called “a validation” of its cross-sell strategy.

Tesla also deployed 109 MW of energy generation systems in the third quarter, but those deployments marked a decline that Musk said was largely the result of de-emphasizing commercial and industrial solar energy projects with low profit and limited cash generation.

He also said that about 46% of the residential solar systems deployed in the third quarter were sold, rather than leased, a 13% rise from the same quarter last year and a “continuing trend that drives revenue growth and improves cash generation.”

Musk said he expects Solar Roof installations will ramp up slowly in the fourth quarter as production moves from Fremont, Calif., to Buffalo, N.Y., but after that Solar Roof installations, are expected to rise “considerably” in 2018.