Transactions with Total and Total S.A. (Details)	1 Months Ended						12 Months Ended
	Jan. 03, 2016 USD ($) shares	Jun. 29, 2014 USD ($) shares	May 31, 2013 USD ($) shares $ / shares	Feb. 28, 2012 USD ($) $ / shares shares	Dec. 31, 2011 $ / shares shares	Jun. 30, 2011 USD ($) $ / shares	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) $ / shares		Jan. 01, 2017 USD ($)	Jan. 03, 2016 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2017 USD ($)	Apr. 02, 2017 USD ($)	Apr. 03, 2016 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2015 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2013 $ / shares
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Customer Advances and Deposits, Related Party							$ 175,000		$ 57,000
Customer Advances, Current							54,999,000	[1]	10,138,000
Customer Advances, Noncurrent							69,062,000	[1]	298,000
Debt instrument, face value							1,621,766,000		1,650,094,000
Billings in excess of costs and estimated earnings							8,708,000		77,140,000
Accounts receivable							1,275,000		3,397,000
Other2							59,821,000		141,598,000
Equity Method Investment, Realized Gain (Loss) on Disposal							$ 5,346,000		0	$ 0
Letter of Credit [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity														$ 25,000,000.0
0.75% debentures due 2018 [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Interest rate			0.75%				0.75%
Debt instrument, face value			$ 300,000,000				$ 300,000,000		300,000,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Price | $ / shares			$ 24.95												$ 24.95
0.875% debentures due 2021 [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Interest rate		0.875%					0.875%
Debt instrument, face value		$ 400,000,000					$ 400,000,000		400,000,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Price | $ / shares							$ 48.76
4.00% debentures due 2023 [Member] [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Interest rate	4.00%						4.00%			4.00%
Debt instrument, face value	$ 425,000,000						$ 425,000,000		425,000,000	$ 425,000,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Price | $ / shares							$ 30.53
Total [Member] | Construction Revolver [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Liquidity support facility, maximum capacity							$ 500,000,000
Total [Member] | 0.875% debentures due 2021 [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Debt instrument, face value		$ 250,000,000
Total [Member] | 4.00% debentures due 2023 [Member] [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Debt instrument, face value													$ 100,000,000
Total [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Ownership after sale of stock, percentage							56.00%
Customer Advances and Deposits							$ 81,600,000
Customer Advances and Deposits, Related Party							88,500,000
Customer Advances, Current							12,744,000		0
Customer Advances, Noncurrent							68,880,000		0
Liquidity support facility, warrant, maximum ownership percentage allowed				74.99%
Other2												$ 500,000
Total [Member] | 0.75% debentures due 2018 [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Debt instrument, face value							200,000,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Number of Equity Instruments | shares			8,017,420
Total [Member] | 0.875% debentures due 2021 [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Number of Equity Instruments | shares		5,126,775
Total [Member] | 4.00% debentures due 2023 [Member] [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Number of Equity Instruments | shares	3,275,680
Total [Member] | Tender Offer Agreement [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Ownership after sale of stock, percentage						60.00%
Consideration received in cash tender offer (in dollars per share) | $ / shares						$ 23.25
Cash tender offer						$ 1,400,000,000
Total [Member] | Private Placement [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Ownership after sale of stock, percentage					66.00%
Consideration received in cash tender offer (in dollars per share) | $ / shares					$ 8.80
Sale of Stock, Number of Shares Issued in Transaction | shares					18,600,000.0
Total [Member] | Upfront Warrants (held by Total) [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Warrant or right, number of securities called by each warrant or right (in shares) | shares				9,531,677
Class of warrant or right, exercise price of warrants or rights (in dollars per share) | $ / shares				$ 7.8685
Class of warrant or right, term				7 years
Liquidity support facility, warrant, minimum amount of outstanding convertible debt required to be outstanding				$ 25,000,000.0
Total [Member] | Interest Expense [Member] | Credit Support Agreement [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Interest Expense, Related Party							6,325,000		7,130,000	11,227,000
Total [Member] | Interest Expense [Member] | 0.75% debentures due 2018 [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Interest Expense, Related Party							1,500,000		1,500,000	1,500,000
Total [Member] | Interest Expense [Member] | 0.875% debentures due 2021 [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Interest Expense, Related Party							2,188,000		2,188,000	2,188,000
Total [Member] | Interest Expense [Member] | 4.00% debentures due 2023 [Member] [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Interest Expense, Related Party							4,000,000		4,000,000	167,000
Total [Member] | Research and Development Expense [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Offsetting contributions received under the R&D Agreement							(138,000)		(557,000)	1,620,000
Total [Member] | Sales [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
EPC, O&M, and components revenue							42,968,000		64,719,000	56,772,000
Total [Member] | Cost of revenue [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Related Party Costs							30,400		60,799,000	$ 53,691,000
Total [Member] | Costs and Estimated Earnings in Excess of Billings [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings							154,000		1,956,000
Total [Member] | Accounts Receivable [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Accounts receivable							2,366,000		$ 656,000
Credit Agricole [Member] | June 2017 Credit Agricole Syndicated Revolver [Member] [Domain] | Letter of Credit [Member]
Related Party Transaction [Line Items]
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity							$ 100,000,000.0				$ 100,000,000.0

[1] The Company has related-party balances for transactions made with Total S.A. and its affiliates as well as unconsolidated entities in which the Company has a direct equity investment. These related-party balances are recorded within the "Accounts receivable, net," "Costs and estimated earnings in excess of billings," "Project assets - plants and land, current portion," "Prepaid expenses and other current assets," "Other long-term assets," "Accounts payable," "Accrued liabilities," "Customer advances, current portion," "Convertible debt, current portion," "Convertible debt, net of current portion," "Customer advances, net of current portion," and "Other long-term liabilities" financial statement line items in the Consolidated Balance Sheets (see Note 2, Note 7, Note 9, Note 10, Note 11, and Note 12).