Tesla reportedly initiated a plan called “Project Titan’ last summer in which the embattled company attempted to replace defective solar-panel parts across the U.S. without telling anyone.

Business Insider reports that Elon Musk’s Tesla initiated a project in the summer of 2018 called Project Titan in which the company attempted to secretly replace faulty solar panel components across the United States. The parts that the firm was attempting to replace were components called Amphenol H4 connectors and SolarEdge optimizers.

These components are extremely important as they regulate the flow of energy and heat to a solar panel which ensures that they don’t overheat, which could easily result in a fire. Breitbart News recently reported that retail giant Walmart is suing Elon Musk’s company over a number of roof fires at multiple Walmart stores which the retail giant alleges were caused by Musk’s solar panels. Walmart is suing for breach of contract and is alleging “gross negligence” on Tesla’s part. Walmart is alleging that fires on the rooftops of stores in California, Maryland, and Ohio were the result of Tesla solar panels.

The complaint filed on Tuesday states: “To state the obvious, properly designed, installed, inspected, and maintained solar systems do not spontaneously combust, and the occurrence of multiple fires involving Tesla’s solar systems is but one unmistakable sign of negligence by Tesla.”

Discussing Project Titan, a Tesla spokesperson told Business Insider: “A portion of SolarCity-installed modules and optimizers from various manufacturers were made with H4 connectors from Amphenol, a part that was commonly used across the industry at the time.” The Tesla spokesperson added that Tesla’s software-monitoring applications found a “small number” of connectors experienced failures and disconnects higher than expected. “Over the past year, less than 1% of sites with this connector have exhibited any abnormal behavior,” a Tesla representative said. “Tesla honors our commitments to our customers, who expect their solar installations to reliably generate clean, low-cost energy for their contract term of 10-20 years. This campaign to replace any faulty connectors at these sites is Tesla fulfilling that commitment.”

Business Insider reports that these components were “quarantined” as part of Project Titan and were either scrapped or reworked. According to documents seen by Business Insider, as many as 120,000 components were quarantined and were stored in warehouses and distribution centers. A Tesla representative denied this.

One former Tesla worker told Business Insider that working at Tesla was chaotic, particularly so during Project Titan. “That’s how all this goes — we fix stuff as it comes out,” the former employee said. “There is no planning ahead — there are too many fires to put out. Pun intended.”

The complaint states that the affected Walmart stores were among more than 240 Walmart businesses which had leased or licensed roof space to Tesla to install the solar panels. It adds that Tesla presented the panels a “safe, reliable” and an environmentally conscious way for Walmart to reduce energy costs. However, it was “clear that Tesla had breached its contractual obligations,” and the firm was asked to disconnect the systems, which Tesla did. However, another fire still took place at a Walmart store in Yuba City, California.

A total of seven Walmart stores have experienced fires due to faulty solar panels according to the complaint. Tesla shares dropped by 1.1 percent following the news, with the stock dropping by a total of 32 percent this year alone.

Update — A spokesperson for SolarEdge contacted Breitbart News with the following statement:

The Walmart/Tesla dispute DOES NOT involve power optimizers or any SolarEdge products. SolarEdge is not a part of this lawsuit, nor are SolarEdge products on the rooftops cited by Walmart in the lawsuit. We obviously cannot comment on initiatives of Tesla in their fleet of PV systems. We can affirm that to our knowledge, our power optimizers have never been the source of any fires.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com