New Tesla Solar Owner

[boaterva]

Have you tried using the site, Energysage? I just put in my info there (no cost), which took just a few minutes, and had several quotes from different companies within a few days. No hard sell and no one came to my house. Plus, by passing a couple quotes along to Tesla, it lowered my system cost from $3.24/W to $2.63/W. Not sure if Energysage is as effective at getting quotes where you're at as where I'm at (perhaps solar companies use it here and not there), but it worked great for me, took little time, and saved me ~$7k.

BTW, I don't work for Energysage... just had a good experience and it saved me a ton of money. haha

Thanks, let me see. Can't be less help than I have now!

 

[3laine]

Thanks, let me see. Can't be less help than I have now!

Yeah, worth a shot. Good luck!

 

[boaterva]

Yeah, worth a shot. Good luck!

Lol, actually it turned out I did deal with getting a quote from them many months ago! Too many things going on. I asked the local installer to update their quote. It looks like they, also, were about $7K under Tesla's panel-only quote. So, thanks for jogging my memory. Tesla's panels are probably higher quality (and do have higher output) but should be useful to see if they will come down at all.

Virginia is still a relative desert, because of the cheap power and lack of incentives, though. I still think it's worth the cost because of independence and ability to not care when it gets hot and you want to turn up the air conditioning.

 

[3laine]

Lol, actually it turned out I did deal with getting a quote from them many months ago! Too many things going on. I asked the local installer to update their quote. It looks like they, also, were about $7K under Tesla's panel-only quote. So, thanks for jogging my memory. Tesla's panels are probably higher quality (and do have higher output) but should be useful to see if they will come down at all.

Oh, yeah, definitely worth having them look at the quote. Tesla's panels are better than any of the quotes that I sent them, too, but they still came down a significant amount. Not ALL the way down to the cheapest one, but quite a bit.

Virginia is still a relative desert, because of the cheap power and lack of incentives, though. I still think it's worth the cost because of independence and ability to not care when it gets hot and you want to turn up the air conditioning.

Same situation in Florida. We have good sunlight, but cheap power (<1000 kWh is like $0.08-$0.09/kWh, $0.11/kWh >1000 kWh) and no additional incentives besides net metering, but I agree it's worth it to go solar for many reasons.

 

[Dr Doom]

How do you calculate the dollar/watt?

 

[3laine]

How do you calculate the dollar/watt?

[Total price (before tax credit)] divided by [# of panels X Watts per panel]

For example, my original quote was ~$34,800 for 34 panels rated at 315W, each.

So, total watts = 34*315 = 10,710W

$34,800 / 10,710 = $3.25/W

After the "best value guarantee" they lowered the price to ~$28,100 or so:

$28,100 / 10,710 = $2.62/W

 

[boaterva]

[Total price (before tax credit)] divided by [# of panels X Watts per panel]

For example, my original quote was ~$34,800 for 34 panels rated at 315W, each.

So, total watts = 34*315 = 10,710W

$34,800 / 10,710 = $3.25/W

After the "best value guarantee" they lowered the price to ~$28,100 or so:

$28,100 / 10,710 = $2.62/W

Wait, who has the 'best value' guarantee? Tesla?! I've not seen that in the specs. I got the updated quote from GreenBriliance at about $31K, so should be interesting to how that helps when I get the final design. The estimate before site survey was around $39K

 

[3laine]

Wait, who has the 'best value' guarantee? Tesla?! I've not seen that in the specs. I got the updated quote from GreenBriliance at about $31K, so should be interesting to how that helps when I get the final design. The estimate before site survey was around $39K

Yes, Tesla has a "best value guarantee." It's not a "price match" per say, because they don't generally match the same price per watt of the other quote, but they definitely trim the price quite a bit, in my experience (and others who I've read that have used it).

 

[boaterva]

Yes, Tesla has a "best value guarantee." It's not a "price match" per say, because they don't generally match the same price per watt of the other quote, but they definitely trim the price quite a bit, in my experience (and others who I've read that have used it).

Excellent.... I'll let y'all know how that goes!