Does anybody have the Tesla Solar Glass Roof in the MD/VA/DC area?

[preilly44]

I'm doing a new construction in MD and I'd like to get a Tesla solar glass roof. I got a quote and system design with production that seems reasonable (18.07kw) but my wife wants to see it in person before she "oks" it.

Does anybody know where I can see one in person? I have showed her the youtube videos but she wants to see it in person.

Also, is there any negotiating as far as the type of inverters they use? I know they don't negotiate on price, but I see they used Delta inverters and I've always liked SolarEdge (just because I've used them before and don't really know anything about Delta).

Thanks in advance!

 

[SMAlset]

I’d suggest calling the Energy team and explaining your wife’s request to do a drive-by of an install. They would be in the best position to know who’s most local to your area.

It’s a tough time to do much more in person but I know I have found Tesla car owners and Solar/PW owners more than willing to talk to potential purchasers and answer any questions. We got lucky when I spotted a Tesla Energy van outside a house in our neighborhood back in February or early March and decided to stop by and talk to the owner while they were installing his PWs. Turns out the owner works for the same large company as my husband, and his office was on the opposite side of the building of my husband’s office. Of course now both are WFH but small world and he was more than willing to chat about his system, experience and invited us to see how it was hooked up. It’s still pretty early for solar roofs in our neighborhood but you never know what you’ll find.

I will also mention that some cities allow for an online building permit search. If you can search by words like Solar, PV, Powerwall or Tesla that can sometimes help.

 

[jboy210]

If you want to come to Northern California you can come by our house.

Be aware there are not very many SolarGlass V3 installations. Somewhere over 100.

Failing being able to pop over you can look at our installation document, Solarglass Roof installation. It has commentary and links to pictures and such.

On the inverter bit we have the Delta inverters (M-4 and M-8). I believe they run Tesla specific firmware. They communicate with Tesla over a Tesla inverter gateway box.

 

[preilly44]

I’d suggest calling the Energy team and explaining your wife’s request to do a drive-by of an install. They would be in the best position to know who’s most local to your area.

It’s a tough time to do much more in person but I know I have found Tesla car owners and Solar/PW owners more than willing to talk to potential purchasers and answer any questions. We got lucky when I spotted a Tesla Energy van outside a house in our neighborhood back in February or early March and decided to stop by and talk to the owner while they were installing his PWs. Turns out the owner works for the same large company as my husband, and his office was on the opposite side of the building of my husband’s office. Of course now both are WFH but small world and he was more than willing to chat about his system, experience and invited us to see how it was hooked up. It’s still pretty early for solar roofs in our neighborhood but you never know what you’ll find.

I will also mention that some cities allow for an online building permit search. If you can search by words like Solar, PV, Powerwall or Tesla that can sometimes help.

I asked the Tesla Energy team and they said for privacy reasons they can't tell me where any are. They said in the past they had people say they were just going to drive by and then they ended up walking around in people's back yard and knocking on doors, etc. I understand them not giving out client's info...but I said if I get it, they can give my info out. I love talking Tesla and pushing green options.

 

[jboy210]

I asked the Tesla Energy team and they said for privacy reasons they can't tell me where any are. They said in the past they had people say they were just going to drive by and then they ended up walking around in people's back yard and knocking on doors, etc. I understand them not giving out client's info...but I said if I get it, they can give my info out. I love talking Tesla and pushing green options.

They asked us if we were OK with giving out our address. We said yes.

 

[wjgjr]

Been lurking around these forums for a bit, but finally signed up in part to answer your question - we just had a solar roof installed in March (and are still completing the interconnection process, but install is complete.) As others mentioned, Tesla keeps a list of installs that can be viewed, and we agreed to be on that list. As they indicated we may be one of the (if not the) first v3 installs in the county, I suspect they may give you our address.

If for some reason you can't get a reference address from, feel free to message me. In more ordinary times, I would offer to show you the interior equipment as well, but I can tell you it was a Delta inverter (Solivia 7.6 TL) they installed. My only concern had been that the inverter had a low frequency shutoff, which this inverter does (60.5 Hz) so I did not ask about other models.

Personally, I think the tiles look really nice installed. Having started the process with the v2 tiles (with an interest in the slate style, since our old roof was slate,) I was a bit concerned by the look and larger size of the v3 tiles, but I was actually surprised by how good they looked once installed.

 

[jboy210]

Been lurking around these forums for a bit, but finally signed up in part to answer your question - we just had a solar roof installed in March (and are still completing the interconnection process, but install is complete.) As others mentioned, Tesla keeps a list of installs that can be viewed, and we agreed to be on that list. As they indicated we may be one of the (if not the) first v3 installs in the county, I suspect they may give you our address.

If for some reason you can't get a reference address from, feel free to message me. In more ordinary times, I would offer to show you the interior equipment as well, but I can tell you it was a Delta inverter (Solivia 7.6 TL) they installed. My only concern had been that the inverter had a low frequency shutoff, which this inverter does (60.5 Hz) so I did not ask about other models.

Personally, I think the tiles look really nice installed. Having started the process with the v2 tiles (with an interest in the slate style, since our old roof was slate,) I was a bit concerned by the look and larger size of the v3 tiles, but I was actually surprised by how good they looked once installed.

The low shutoff frequency for inverter is a good thing. It means the gateway can be set to not raise the frequency too high to shutdown the inverter when you are off the grid and the PWs are full. Raising the frequency high (62 HZ +) causes devices to work differently than normal and causes really issues for things like USP units. See this really long thread for more information.

Only caveat is you may need to have Tesla change the setting in your Gateway to a lower value for inverter shutdown. And when I asked people thought you could only do that after PTO was obtained.

 

[wjgjr]

The low shutoff frequency for inverter is a good thing. It means the gateway can be set to not raise the frequency too high to shutdown the inverter when you are off the grid and the PWs are full. Raising the frequency high (62 HZ +) causes devices to work differently than normal and causes really issues for things like USP units. See this really long thread for more information.

Only caveat is you may need to have Tesla change the setting in your Gateway to a lower value for inverter shutdown. And when I asked people thought you could only do that after PTO was obtained.

Right - I meant to suggest it as a good thing. When we were planning the project I wanted to ensure the inverter was speced to shut off at that lower frequency. And, interestingly, some initial tests from the Eaton UPS we have show the frequency only spiking to about 63Hz to kill the solar panels, so it is possible Tesla is starting to default to a lower number (though we may still look to lower it further once we are fully operational and have a chance to do more thorough testing.)

 

[jboy210]

Right - I meant to suggest it as a good thing. When we were planning the project I wanted to ensure the inverter was speced to shut off at that lower frequency. And, interestingly, some initial tests from the Eaton UPS we have show the frequency only spiking to about 63Hz to kill the solar panels, so it is possible Tesla is starting to default to a lower number (though we may still look to lower it further once we are fully operational and have a chance to do more thorough testing.)

Great to hear about only hitting 63Hz. I plan on doing the same testing after we are fully online and want to go as low as practicable.

 

[gigawatt1010]

I'm on the permitting stage of my Solar Roof install. I just signed off on the last few documents for the interconnects and NY State incentives. How long do you think before they actually come and start the process? Reading all these topics on this sub forum is getting me really excited!!!

 

[jboy210]

I'm on the permitting stage of my Solar Roof install. I just signed off on the last few documents for the interconnects and NY State incentives. How long do you think before they actually come and start the process? Reading all these topics on this sub forum is getting me really excited!!!

First congrats! We love or solar roof. I am sort of shocked by the amount of power it will generate even on a cloudy day.

We signed before Thanksgiving. They called to set start date in early February. Onsite work started March 2, 2020. The process may be quicker now. We were part of the first 100 installtion where Tesla crews were doing a lot of the work or on-site supervising/teaching subs. Later installation are supposed to be done mostly by subs. Because of the virus and project shutdowns we had up to 8 Tesla employees and 5 subcontractors on site at the same time.

Project was finished on April 2. This include shutdowns for rain (glass is slick when wet and cannot be stepped on when it rains) and shelter-in-place orders. Without those I estimate a little over 2 weeks to complete.

System is 12+kW with 2 Powerwalls.

 

[gigawatt1010]

@jboy210 thanks! I’m very excited and I do hope it happens fairly quickly. I saw your solar install via the Google Docs you shared. We plan to document ours too when the install gets going.

 

[Boesie]

We're in the purchasing phase, here in Virginia. Have to clear it with the HoA first. Did you guys find an example, or decide to go for it?

I'm doing a new construction in MD and I'd like to get a Tesla solar glass roof. I got a quote and system design with production that seems reasonable (18.07kw) but my wife wants to see it in person before she "oks" it.

Does anybody know where I can see one in person? I have showed her the youtube videos but she wants to see it in person.

Also, is there any negotiating as far as the type of inverters they use? I know they don't negotiate on price, but I see they used Delta inverters and I've always liked SolarEdge (just because I've used them before and don't really know anything about Delta).

Thanks in advance!

 

[wjgjr]

We're in the purchasing phase, here in Virginia. Have to clear it with the HoA first. Did you guys find an example, or decide to go for it?

I indicated to OP that I offered to be a reference for Tesla, so if you call them, I would think they should give you my address as an install, but it seems like they did not (perhaps because we still are waiting on PTO.) If they are still not giving it out and you don't mind a drive across the river, you can message me as well.

 

[SMAlset]

Not the MD/VA/DC area asked about but thought I would post for anyone in the east coast Massachusetts area. Saw this June 8 article on PV-Magazine's website on the first Tesla Solar Roof in that state:

First Tesla solar tile roof V3 installed in Massachusetts

 

[wjgjr]

Not the MD/VA/DC area asked about but thought I would post for anyone in the east coast Massachusetts area. Saw this June 8 article on PV-Magazine's website on the first Tesla Solar Roof in that state:

First Tesla solar tile roof V3 installed in Massachusetts

Interesting - wonder when that was done. Our on-site manager had to head down to NC for a couple days during our install and they brought in a guy from MA who said they hadn't started any work up there (as of mid-March) as they waited for the weather to break. Also said his team (which I think had been doing some work on the west coast) was doing their first east-coast install on an island and were bringing in equipment by boat.

 

[gigawatt1010]

As I wait for my Solar Glass install, I've been trying to educate myself with Tesla energy. I read multiple articles (like the one above) and threads that attempt to track where Solar Glass had been installed. That article above was from this month and I'm assuming the install took place in Apr/May timeframe.

Is there an install tracker for Solar Glass similar to the Google Doc order tracker for the cars? I'd be curious to see how many are in NY.

 

[preilly44]

We're in the purchasing phase, here in Virginia. Have to clear it with the HoA first. Did you guys find an example, or decide to go for it?

I had a conference call to review everything with Tesla Energy in early May. My energy advisor never got back to me with the questions she couldn't answer on that phone call and hasn't answered any of my follow up emails. I have also left three voicemails on the Tesla Energy 800 number in case my advisor left or something. I haven't heard back from anybody. Ironically, we decided to go with the SGR after seeing how great wjgjr's came out. I want to actually do another building on our property but nobody wants to call me back to take my money.

 

[damenBlue]

Pardon me if this has already been asked before. Is there a list solar roofers in the DC/MD/VA area? I have had an incredibly difficult time trying to get any information out of Tesla in regards to getting a solar roof on an new construction in Silver Spring. I came across American Home Contractors for solar roof installation and they seem to be far more responsive. Has anyone had any experience with them? Any other solar roofers? I just want to gather as much information to make informative decisions as i am getting ready to kick off the new construction.

 

[wjgjr]

Pardon me if this has already been asked before. Is there a list solar roofers in the DC/MD/VA area? I have had an incredibly difficult time trying to get any information out of Tesla in regards to getting a solar roof on an new construction in Silver Spring. I came across American Home Contractors for solar roof installation and they seem to be far more responsive. Has anyone had any experience with them? Any other solar roofers? I just want to gather as much information to make informative decisions as i am getting ready to kick off the new construction.

There is one other individual who has mentioned they are currently talking to this company:

Tesla Solar Roof in Virginia

Wondering if anyone in Virginia has worked with American Home Contractors. I have been waiting for an opportunity to get a quote on a solar tile roof vs solar panels and replacing our roof with standing seam roof. Finally got some progress when tesla solar pushed me over to AHC to get a quote...

teslamotorsclub.com

I am not sure if there exists a list, and I would not be surprised if there aren't any others in the area at the time as it seems like Tesla currently does not have too many authorized installers. AHC is the only name I've heard, and only from that thread. I believe all of the completed DC-area installs, including ours, reported in this forum so far have been direct through Tesla.

Most likely, you will get a better price from Tesla and better service from AHC, and it will be up to you to decide what the better service might be worth.