Business Combination and Divestitures Business Combinations (Details) $ in Thousands					3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
		Apr. 01, 2019 USD ($)	Oct. 01, 2018 USD ($) employee MW	Apr. 16, 2018 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Jan. 01, 2017 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration						$ 17,000	$ 0	$ 24,003
Gain on sale and impairment of residential lease assets	[1]					$ 260,111	$ 278,645	$ 332,757
SolarWorld Americas
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration			$ 26,000
Gain on sale and impairment of residential lease assets					$ 20,000
Business combination, number of employees (more than) | employee			200
Payments to acquire businesses, gross			$ 15,000	$ 2,000
Contingent consideration, measurement period			120 days
Contingent consideration, liability			$ 4,100
Contingent consideration, asset			$ 3,200
Power supply agreement (in MW) | MW			18
Supply commitment, liability			$ 7,900
Total allocable consideration			30,100
Property, plant and equipment			37,400
Other asset relating to AD/CVD Trade cases			3,100
Net liabilities assumed			$ 10,400
Scenario, Forecast | SolarWorld Americas
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Payments to acquire businesses, gross		$ 9,000

[1] We have related-party transactions with Total S.A. and its affiliates as well as unconsolidated entities in which we have a direct equity investment. These related-party transactions are recorded within the "Revenue: Solar power systems, components, and other," "Cost of revenue: Solar power systems, components, and other," "Operating expenses: Research and development," "Operating expenses: Sales, general and administrative," and "Other income (expense), net: Interest expense" financial statement line items in our Consolidated Statements of Operations (see Note 2 and Note 11).