7.1KW solar roof system + 2 Powerwalls in upstate NY -- do my generation stats look right?

[sk00]

Hi all. Tesla completed installation of a 7.1 kW solar roof system with 2 Powerwalls on July 16th. I'm about 100 miles north of NYC in the Hudson Valley. Exactly half of the tiles are facing south, and the other half north, with basically zero obstructions.

Hoping community members can help verify if my system is performing as it should.

1) Peak daily generation has been 37.3 kWh -- reached on 2 occasions. These were pretty hot/humid days (~90 degrees F), mostly sunny with some clouds toward the end of those days. My guess is I would've reached 40 kWh without clouds. Does this sound about right?
2) On those peak days, my peak output barely reached 5 kW, but I've actually seen output reach 7.4 kW on a cloudy/rainy day. Does that seem right? Just seems counterintuitive to have better peak output on a cloudy day.
3) I believe I have the latest Powerwall and inverter. My solar system shuts down for about 10-15 minutes everyday. I've notified Tesla and it seems to be a software issue that they haven't addressed yet. Does anyone else have this issue?

Appreciate any insights from this community. Thanks.

 

[jboy210]

Hi all. Tesla completed installation of a 7.1 kW solar roof system with 2 Powerwalls on July 16th. I'm about 100 miles north of NYC in the Hudson Valley. Exactly half of the tiles are facing south, and the other half north, with basically zero obstructions.

Hoping community members can help verify if my system is performing as it should.

1) Peak daily generation has been 37.3 kWh -- reached on 2 occasions. These were pretty hot/humid days (~90 degrees F), mostly sunny with some clouds toward the end of those days. My guess is I would've reached 40 kWh without clouds. Does this sound about right?
2) On those peak days, my peak output barely reached 5 kW, but I've actually seen output reach 7.4 kW on a cloudy/rainy day. Does that seem right? Just seems counterintuitive to have better peak output on a cloudy day.
3) I believe I have the latest Powerwall and inverter. My solar system shuts down for about 10-15 minutes everyday. I've notified Tesla and it seems to be a software issue that they haven't addressed yet. Does anyone else have this issue?

Appreciate any insights from this community. Thanks.

1) Your number sounds reasonable for a solar roof in summer. But the yield is highly dependent on the angle at which the sun hits your roof (angle of incidence), obstructions, etc. And of course, heat and clouds are not your friends when it comes to yield

2) The reason for the big peak when cloudy/rainy is likely the Cloud-edge effect. When the sun peaks out from a cloud the water droplets cause a magnify glass effect of temporarily increase the energy hitting the roof.

3) The shutdown down sound wrong. I do not have this issue. But, I have an older Gateway and it is separate from the two Powerwalls, so many not be affected by this issue.

 

[wjgjr]

I agree with everything @jboy210 said, and I will add that I have an 8.19 kW solar roof split 50/50 North/South, and my best day over the last two weeks is 41.3 kWh. Obviously a bit south of you, but probably fairly similar conditions, and the ratio of size to production looks pretty similar. My peak, continuous output this time of year seems to be around 5.5 kW, which is also pretty consistent with what you are seeing (though even that can vary significantly not only with time of year but with the heat and level of haze.)

 

[arnolddeleon]

PVWatts so you can model for yourself what your system will produce. Multiplying system size by 5 gives a very very rough estimate for average production, so roughly 35 kWh.

Edge of cloud effects is what causes higher peaks during cloudy days. Basically the reflection plus cooler panels.

If the string voltage of the modules drops below the minimum for the system then the system will stop producing power even if there is still light This is why a longer string is often preferred.

 

[h2ofun]

PVWatts so you can model for yourself what your system will produce. Multiplying system size by 5 gives a very very rough estimate for average production, so roughly 35 kWh.

Edge of cloud effects is what causes higher peaks during cloudy days. Basically the reflection plus cooler panels.

If the string voltage of the modules drops below the minimum for the system then the system will stop producing power even if there is still light This is why a longer string is often preferred.

Interesting, my 30kw setup max day has been 180kwh, so pretty close to your by 5 estimate?

 

[ctcpt]

Hi all. Tesla completed installation of a 7.1 kW solar roof system with 2 Powerwalls on July 16th. I'm about 100 miles north of NYC in the Hudson Valley. Exactly half of the tiles are facing south, and the other half north, with basically zero obstructions.

Hoping community members can help verify if my system is performing as it should.

1) Peak daily generation has been 37.3 kWh -- reached on 2 occasions. These were pretty hot/humid days (~90 degrees F), mostly sunny with some clouds toward the end of those days. My guess is I would've reached 40 kWh without clouds. Does this sound about right?
2) On those peak days, my peak output barely reached 5 kW, but I've actually seen output reach 7.4 kW on a cloudy/rainy day. Does that seem right? Just seems counterintuitive to have better peak output on a cloudy day.
3) I believe I have the latest Powerwall and inverter. My solar system shuts down for about 10-15 minutes everyday. I've notified Tesla and it seems to be a software issue that they haven't addressed yet. Does anyone else have this issue?

Appreciate any insights from this community. Thanks.

Hi there, Just wanted to ask if you used tesla direct to do the installation or did you go with a regional certified installer for your project? What was your experience?

 

[sk00]

Hi there, Just wanted to ask if you used tesla direct to do the installation or did you go with a regional certified installer for your project? What was your experience?

I went Tesla direct. Experience has been generally not so great, with the exception of the actual installation (pretty uneventful/efficient 3-day installation) and price. The quote from a certified installer (Suncommon) was basically 2x Tesla so had to go direct. I could probably write another post about my experience. Happy to give you more details.

 

[ctcpt]

I went Tesla direct. Experience has been generally not so great, with the exception of the actual installation (pretty uneventful/efficient 3-day installation) and price. The quote from a certified installer (Suncommon) was basically 2x Tesla so had to go direct. I could probably write another post about my experience. Happy to give you more details.

Thanks sk00. I would love your comments. Think it is important as this would be a HUGE investment. Our roof is massive and we are doing 6 numbers! Any feedback, advice, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated. This forum, like all forums (in my opinion) are where we (consumers) can and should communicate with each other freely. I look forward to getting your experience. Tesla is coming to our home on this Wednesday to do site visit. Would love to know if there are questions that you think I should ask prior to their arrival.

 

[ctcpt]

Thanks sk00. I would love your comments. Think it is important as this would be a HUGE investment. Our roof is massive and we are doing 6 numbers! Any feedback, advice, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated. This forum, like all forums (in my opinion) are where we (consumers) can and should communicate with each other freely. I look forward to getting your experience. Tesla is coming to our home on this Wednesday to do site visit. Would love to know if there are questions that you think I should ask prior to their arrival.

spending 6 figures on the solar roof. Not doing 6 numbers. not sure how auto correct translated that!

 

[sk00]

I agree with everything @jboy210 said, and I will add that I have an 8.19 kW solar roof split 50/50 North/South, and my best day over the last two weeks is 41.3 kWh. Obviously a bit south of you, but probably fairly similar conditions, and the ratio of size to production looks pretty similar. My peak, continuous output this time of year seems to be around 5.5 kW, which is also pretty consistent with what you are seeing (though even that can vary significantly not only with time of year but with the heat and level of haze.)

Thanks @wjgjr @jboy210
That's good to know and does seem pretty inline with my system, adjusted for system size.
I reached 39.7 kWh this past Saturday, which is the new peak. Would've been closer to 41 kWh without this annoying daily 10-15 minute shutdown. You can see the shutdown clearly in the attached screenshot. Hopefully Tesla addresses this soon.

 

[sk00]

Thanks sk00. I would love your comments. Think it is important as this would be a HUGE investment. Our roof is massive and we are doing 6 numbers! Any feedback, advice, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated. This forum, like all forums (in my opinion) are where we (consumers) can and should communicate with each other freely. I look forward to getting your experience. Tesla is coming to our home on this Wednesday to do site visit. Would love to know if there are questions that you think I should ask prior to their arrival.

I'd start off by saying Tesla's customer service is absolutely horrendous, but you probably already know that. I would treat the whole thing like a construction project (which it really is), though the crux of the issue is that Tesla isn't a construction company; they just make cool products.

Have them tell you ALL extra costs in advance and have them provide you a detailed/itemized list. I wasn't able to get an itemized list from them but stopped pushing them towards the end as I was able to get most of the erroneous charges off the invoice. Eventually, the only added extra charge was for a partial roof deck replacement. Just to give you an idea of how ridiculous some charges might be -- they charge $1000 to take down simple gutters for installation, and another $1000 to put them back up. I successfully removed these charges and had my contractor put the gutters back up for $50 -- it took him 10 minutes.

I was reassigned a project advisor twice and the 3rd/final advisor was somewhat helpful, but I think the advisors are generally not very close to the project details so it's almost impossible to get clear/accurate responses to questions. I've asked several times to be connected to designers and engineers directly but was never put in touch with them.

One positive aspect is that the installation crew was great. The installation of solar + Powerwalls took just 3 days, and since then, I've been dealing with 3 of the installers directly by phone and they've been very responsive/helpful. To be clear, my project was as simple as it gets -- small detached garage with plain 2-sided roof, so the scale/complexity will be at a completely different level for you.

I'm generally happy with the end result, with the exception of the 10-15 minute daily solar shutdown Tesla hasn't yet resolved. For me, it was all about cost. If cost isn't an issue, I'd definitely go with a 3rd party installer. Hope this is helpful. Good luck!

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks sk00. I would love your comments. Think it is important as this would be a HUGE investment. Our roof is massive and we are doing 6 numbers! Any feedback, advice, tips, etc. would be greatly appreciated. This forum, like all forums (in my opinion) are where we (consumers) can and should communicate with each other freely. I look forward to getting your experience. Tesla is coming to our home on this Wednesday to do site visit. Would love to know if there are questions that you think I should ask prior to their arrival.

Most of the experience you will find posted here (and elsewhere) online related to tesla energy boils down to the following:

1. Tesla, in general, is cheaper than almost anyone else for a given tesla energy project. Sometimes "a few thousand", sometimes " a few 10s of thousands" depending on size of job.

2. Tesla does not communicate very well during the scope of these projects. This is a constant amongst both large and small projects.

3. Tesla INSTALL crews (whether directly with tesla, or if they sub contract out) are, in general, fairly well received. There are exceptions, and there seems to be more exceptions to this statement in the solar roof space than in the solar panel space.

4. Tesla, in general, does NOT do well with "custom" anything as far as requests go. They want you to be pretty hands off, and just sign on the dotted line. If you have specific wants and needs for your project, they dont tend to do well with that.

5. Tesla can be a bit slow on after care support, but no slower than the other large solar companies, like sunrun.

6. with solar roof specifically, Tesla recently angered a large swath of people, because they signed a bunch of contracts at pricing they then stated they could not perform at. Tesla was attempting to sell the solar roof like they sell their vehicles, with a few clicks, and these are construction projects. Tesla basically increased pricing on all those contracts (10s of thousands for some), angering all those people who signed the contracts at lower pricing.

Solar Roof, big price increase

I've had a solar roof reservation since March 2020 (in MN). My purchase agreement was signed in April 2020. Today I got the note below which shows a new agreement which is just about $20k more than the original. No change in the proposed design. We have increased the price of Solar Roof and...

teslamotorsclub.com

7.Point 6 notwithstanding, tesla normally doesnt tend to nickel and dime on installations, however they also do not absorb the pricing on things like new gutters (homeowner responsibility), or electric panel upgrades. Those type things are extra charges at this point and need to be on the contract specifically if you expect them to be covered.

TL ; DR --- Go with tesla because you will save a lot of money, and be prepared to self manage a lot of your project, and not have a lot of specific needs in your project. I havent seen anyone here post about going with a third party solar roof installer. You would be the first I have seen to post here about that. Let us know how your interactions with the third party roofer go.

 

[jboy210]

Most of the experience you will find posted here (and elsewhere) online related to tesla energy boils down to the following:

1. Tesla, in general, is cheaper than almost anyone else for a given tesla energy project. Sometimes "a few thousand", sometimes " a few 10s of thousands" depending on size of job.

2. Tesla does not communicate very well during the scope of these projects. This is a constant amongst both large and small projects.

3. Tesla INSTALL crews (whether directly with tesla, or if they sub contract out) are, in general, fairly well received. There are exceptions, and there seems to be more exceptions to this statement in the solar roof space than in the solar panel space.

4. Tesla, in general, does NOT do well with "custom" anything as far as requests go. They want you to be pretty hands off, and just sign on the dotted line. If you have specific wants and needs for your project, they dont tend to do well with that.

5. Tesla can be a bit slow on after care support, but no slower than the other large solar companies, like sunrun.

6. with solar roof specifically, Tesla recently angered a large swath of people, because they signed a bunch of contracts at pricing they then stated they could not perform at. Tesla was attempting to sell the solar roof like they sell their vehicles, with a few clicks, and these are construction projects. Tesla basically increased pricing on all those contracts (10s of thousands for some), angering all those people who signed the contracts at lower pricing.

Solar Roof, big price increase

I've had a solar roof reservation since March 2020 (in MN). My purchase agreement was signed in April 2020. Today I got the note below which shows a new agreement which is just about $20k more than the original. No change in the proposed design. We have increased the price of Solar Roof and...

teslamotorsclub.com

7.Point 6 notwithstanding, tesla normally doesnt tend to nickel and dime on installations, however they also do not absorb the pricing on things like new gutters (homeowner responsibility), or electric panel upgrades. Those type things are extra charges at this point and need to be on the contract specifically if you expect them to be covered.

TL ; DR --- Go with tesla because you will save a lot of money, and be prepared to self manage a lot of your project, and not have a lot of specific needs in your project. I havent seen anyone here post about going with a third party solar roof installer. You would be the first I have seen to post here about that. Let us know how your interactions with the third party roofer go.

On the use of 3rd party installers. Tesla has done that on SolarRoofs on a subcontracting basis. Ours was done by a Tesla and a subcontractor they were getting up to speed. So we paid Tesla for the roof and they managed the teams, but only a part of the team was badge carrying Tesla employees.

 

[jjrandorin]

On the use of 3rd party installers. Tesla has done that on SolarRoofs on a subcontracting basis. Ours was done by a Tesla and a subcontractor they were getting up to speed. So we paid Tesla for the roof and they managed the teams, but only a part of the team was badge carrying Tesla employees.

I remember you mentioning that, but considered that "through tesla" because you went through tesla itself, etc, and they brought someone else in, vs going with someone else directly who is installing a solar roof and buys the tiles from tesla to install for you.

 

[ctcpt]

jjrandorin, jboy210, sk00 thank you all for your feedback and input. Accordingly, our home would possibly be the largest consumer project to date so far according to the certified installer. That being said, I am prepared for a large number on the cost side but want to make sure there are no "surprises" at the end (like a punchlist) of ticky tack charges. I appreciate each of you providing great insight and will continue to monitor and update this forum as I get information. At the moment, the Tesla direct price is about $80k less than the certified installer. But, I am meeting with Tesla this week and will try to nail them to a more precise number. The algorithm style of providing pricing leads me to believe that the costs will climb when they see the complexity of our roof. Stay tuned.... and thanks for your interest in my questions and providing some great advice.

Based on the other topics in the forum, seems like only one other person recently posted about a certified installer in Maine. Other than that, I couldnt find any other samples of certified installers other than on Youtube.

 

[jjrandorin]

jjrandorin, jboy210, sk00 thank you all for your feedback and input. Accordingly, our home would possibly be the largest consumer project to date so far according to the certified installer. That being said, I am prepared for a large number on the cost side but want to make sure there are no "surprises" at the end (like a punchlist) of ticky tack charges. I appreciate each of you providing great insight and will continue to monitor and update this forum as I get information. At the moment, the Tesla direct price is about $80k less than the certified installer. But, I am meeting with Tesla this week and will try to nail them to a more precise number. The algorithm style of providing pricing leads me to believe that the costs will climb when they see the complexity of our roof. Stay tuned.... and thanks for your interest in my questions and providing some great advice.

Based on the other topics in the forum, seems like only one other person recently posted about a certified installer in Maine. Other than that, I couldnt find any other samples of certified installers other than on Youtube.

For an install that large, I would imagine you have some specifics that you want to accomplish. Perhaps you can get some senior people assigned to your project due to the size? That would be something I might ask. No idea if its possible. but it would be something I would ask.

 

[ctcpt]

For an install that large, I would imagine you have some specifics that you want to accomplish. Perhaps you can get some senior people assigned to your project due to the size? That would be something I might ask. No idea if its possible. but it would be something I would ask.

 

[ctcpt]

great idea jjrandorin. I think that is what I will do once we have the site inspection on wednesday.

 

[Cshama]

Hi all. Tesla completed installation of a 7.1 kW solar roof system with 2 Powerwalls on July 16th. I'm about 100 miles north of NYC in the Hudson Valley. Exactly half of the tiles are facing south, and the other half north, with basically zero obstructions.

Hoping community members can help verify if my system is performing as it should.

1) Peak daily generation has been 37.3 kWh -- reached on 2 occasions. These were pretty hot/humid days (~90 degrees F), mostly sunny with some clouds toward the end of those days. My guess is I would've reached 40 kWh without clouds. Does this sound about right?
2) On those peak days, my peak output barely reached 5 kW, but I've actually seen output reach 7.4 kW on a cloudy/rainy day. Does that seem right? Just seems counterintuitive to have better peak output on a cloudy day.
3) I believe I have the latest Powerwall and inverter. My solar system shuts down for about 10-15 minutes everyday. I've notified Tesla and it seems to be a software issue that they haven't addressed yet. Does anyone else have this issue?

Appreciate any insights from this community. Thanks.

I am also in the Hudson valley in Westchester. I have an 18.36kw system. I would say that in a really good day I get between 120-130kw. Yesterday I got 120kw. I’m facing mostly sw with no shading. Last 2 months I’ve got 2.6MW each month. Using Hanwha 340w panels and micro inverters

 

[nyprepper]

@sk00 i'm also in the Hudson Valley and have a south facing, partially shaded 6.6kw array on a single roof section and 2 Powerwalls. Install was completed in November 2018. My lifetime production (33 months total) is at 17,500 KWH, my total usage for the same time period is 30,900........ so about a 56% total offset. The system has been bullet proof for me, knock on wood. I bought the system primarily for backup power and it has gotten us thru many multi-day outages and dozens of shorter ones. The energy offset has been the icing on the cake (it's cut my annual electric spend in half). Very happy here.

My only "disappointment" is that the panels tend to hold ice and snow longer than I expected.