The inspection guy I had did not care one way or the other except that a Powerwall causes him extra work. He spent about 3 hours inspecting our home for a Solarroof install and 2 Powerwalls.
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Add powerwall to existing system
- Thread starter ctopher2391
- Start date
Wow! When we had one added, they saw the extra shutoff outside, said "good" and were out of here in less than 2 minutes. I'm not even sure anyone showed up during the initial PV/PW install, and all the equipment other than shutoffs are in the basement.
The guy was doing the inspection for Solarroof and Powerwall. He went through everything. Even opened the power box with a faraday type hood on, look garage structure where they would mount the GW2, inverters, Powerwalls, etc. Verified the ground rod was up to code. Also when into the attic, and measured and check beam sizes, roof sheeting, etc. Inspected the rafter tails for rot, and downspouts since Tesla was replacing gutters, etc.
Vinc
Member
Quick update on my end. Sunrun was also a hard pass as soon as they heard that I already had the solar panels. They say that as of now, they are only doing batteries when the install panels too. They kept my contact to reach me as soon as this policy changes, but I won't be holding my breath.
Semper Solaris seems to be open to doing just the battery. They will be stopping by in a few days to review my system. I will circle back.
I met a homeowner over the weekend that had a solar-only system installed in 2018 by SolarCity (now Tesla). At the time he couldn't afford Batteries, and thought it would be "easy" to add batteries later.
He was wrong; Tesla refused to do a Powerwall-only addition even though he was on well-water-only and in a fire-prone area. He missed the boat on SGIP I guess.
He struggled to actually find anyone who would add Powerwalls due to availability. Ultimately, he had to go with Enphase Encharge from a local installer. They actually took out the inverter that Tesla originally installed. In its place they installed 28x Micros and hooked up all this to an Enphase envoy. Enphase's system needs AC input to the Envoy but cannot deal with non-Enphase AC parts.
He was wrong; Tesla refused to do a Powerwall-only addition even though he was on well-water-only and in a fire-prone area. He missed the boat on SGIP I guess.
He struggled to actually find anyone who would add Powerwalls due to availability. Ultimately, he had to go with Enphase Encharge from a local installer. They actually took out the inverter that Tesla originally installed. In its place they installed 28x Micros and hooked up all this to an Enphase envoy. Enphase's system needs AC input to the Envoy but cannot deal with non-Enphase AC parts.
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
Yeah, Tesla stopped selling just powerwalls over a year ago I think.
Third party installers seem to be very supply constrained, so it doesn’t surprise me that few of them want to “waste” a powerwall if they aren’t getting paid for a big PV array too.
Third party installers seem to be very supply constrained, so it doesn’t surprise me that few of them want to “waste” a powerwall if they aren’t getting paid for a big PV array too.
Vinc
Member
The state of California has a website for the Self-Generation Incentive Program that includes a downloadable excel file with vendors organized by county.
Using this tool I found a number of vendors who surprisingly had Powerwalls available and were willing to add to a preexisting solar system.
I almost pulled the trigger, but at the end I am going to wait for the new version of the Span Smart Panel. I had a chat with them and the product looks very interesting. Essentially, it is a smart panel designed with the Powerwall in mind. It lets you select what breakers stay on in case of a power outage. With this panel it is much easier to run the house with just one battery, rather than the multiple that would be needed in my case for a full backup. Or so they promise...
www.span.io
Using this tool I found a number of vendors who surprisingly had Powerwalls available and were willing to add to a preexisting solar system.
I almost pulled the trigger, but at the end I am going to wait for the new version of the Span Smart Panel. I had a chat with them and the product looks very interesting. Essentially, it is a smart panel designed with the Powerwall in mind. It lets you select what breakers stay on in case of a power outage. With this panel it is much easier to run the house with just one battery, rather than the multiple that would be needed in my case for a full backup. Or so they promise...
SPAN® Panel | Lower your energy bill
SPAN Panel is a re-invention of the 100 yr old home electrical panel
www.span.io
I think it is a more general phenomenon of not wanting to touch other equipment that might have 15 plus years of warranty liabilities associated with it. A totally separate system output AC is a boundary of future liabilities. I looked at expanding out PV system and every vendor wanted a separate system, even though they sold and installed the same Enphase microinverters.
Just my $0.02
All the best,
BG
Just my $0.02
All the best,
BG
Merrill
Merrill
If you live in the Bay Area I had Sunfirst Solar in San Rafael install my 2 powerwalls and also applied for the SGIP incentive, this was over a year ago not sure how things are now.
Yep, why I keep stating here do it all at once. Piecemeal add ons after the fact has been a problem even when I started my own research last year. Like bad code, no one wants to deal with someone elses install and will probably never warranty against it. Certainly not Tesla.
Exactly, with a whole interconnected backup and generation system, any issues with design or installation left by the previous installation become yours to deal with.
Many installers have more work than they can get through immediately so it makes sense to go for the most profitable jobs with the highest level of customer satisfaction possible.
Yeah, it's just this stuff is so expensive... it can be tough for people to just pull the trigger and finance it all at the same time. I think many of us in Northern California can barely afford our houses (and for people not on TMC... gasoline).
Some people wouldn't even be able to stay in a house without Prop 13 and the transfer/credit system when they move. So many first-time homeowners are being asked to pay above-average property taxes to prop up their county treasury with many others paying property taxes that haven't even kept up with inflation. These first time homeowners are also trying to afford house renovations, transportation costs, and green energy initiatives like PV+ESS.
For many, it's a tough time to come up with all the money up front. Thank goodness for the federal ITC and SGIP lol.
Reason for our own delay and if you have owned your home anywhere in CA for a while, I'd assume you have some/lots of equity with how crazy housing prices have been. Cash out refi is not a bad way to 'afford' it.
1st time recent home buyers would certainly have a tougher time.
While we questioned ourselves about spending the additional funds to go from 2 to 3 PWs during our installation period, glad we did and I’m still wishing we would have done two double stacks at the time. We added the 3rd PW when Tesla actually had a sale on them (doubtful that will happen again any time soon) and so much has changed in code that not sure we could add one to our single non-stacked unit. Very glad we have what we do and we get by quite well but if we were to go all electric I know I’d be regretting not getting a 4th. No room for a 5th in our garage so that would have been the extent of our hardware. Also were on NEM 2.0 and would hate to lose our rates for the upcoming years.
I would recommend people go for the best system they can afford at the time of install especially if you plan to live in the house for a number of years. The benefit we have now is that the 3rd PW gives us the ability to sufficiently charge both of our cars at any time of day or night most of the year, essentially for free from the sun. That in itself has saved us quite a bit of money and it makes it so much more convenient to plug in without being too concerned about any time of use or depleting our PWs to a less desired level should an outage occur. Who knows what PG&E will adopt in the future.
I saw a recent article that solar and battery storage are giving home sellers a pretty good return these days when they sell their house. Does vary by area of the country but it wasn’t always like that.
I would recommend people go for the best system they can afford at the time of install especially if you plan to live in the house for a number of years. The benefit we have now is that the 3rd PW gives us the ability to sufficiently charge both of our cars at any time of day or night most of the year, essentially for free from the sun. That in itself has saved us quite a bit of money and it makes it so much more convenient to plug in without being too concerned about any time of use or depleting our PWs to a less desired level should an outage occur. Who knows what PG&E will adopt in the future.
I saw a recent article that solar and battery storage are giving home sellers a pretty good return these days when they sell their house. Does vary by area of the country but it wasn’t always like that.
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I see no value in the batteries I have. The value is in the tons of solar I produce. Battery flow loses 10% of it. Using PGE for my battery, IMO, is, for now,
a much better return on ones money from what I can see.
The problem is that PG&E is doing everything in their power to ruin the economics of YOU using THEM as your battery.
I guess it doesn't matter any more since interest rates shot up... but one of the problems with a cash out refi is that the interest rate of the refinanced principal is usually not as good as if the homeowner had simply refinanced. The effective cost of the portion cashed out ends up costing quite a bit assuming the homeowner doesn't finish their mortgage in like 10 years. Then again, if your lender didn't penalize a cash-out refi then by all means, take that equity lol.
I guess some people can do a refinance then couple with a HELOC, but those rates are pretty bad as well.
I wasn't able to time the bottom of the interest rate grab bag, but I got down to 3.375% on a 30 year fixed. If I tried to cash out refi the same lenders were quoting around 4.0%. Kind of killed the allure of a cash-out.
Anyway, I'm glad I snuck in and have a house... but California really gatekeeps home ownership for the middle class with all the entrenched folks with homes frequently enacting policies and mindsets that stymie new home buyers. It's funny to me that a state that prides itself on progressive thinking around access to resources would make one of the most core resources (shelter) so difficult to obtain.
