I ordered a 15.12kw and 4 power walls. The house isn't big so it may be overkill but I really want to make sure that my back up power is acceptable. I'd like to be able to run pretty much everything in an outage (A/C, hot water, fridge, charge car, etc). It's really exciting as I've always been fascinated with solar energy production.
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Ordered Tesla Solar
- Thread starter Zer0t
- Start date
gigawatt1010
Member
Congrats! I also ordered a 9.5KW Solar Glass with 2 PWs a couple of weeks ago and I'm now on the permitting stage.
My utility company said I consumed about 9,800KWh for 2019, and this 9.5KW Solar Glass system is supposed to produce about 11,000KWh, so I should be okay.
I was seriously considering a 3rd PW but after speaking with a few folks from here, including someone who lives next town over from me, I'm confident my 2PWs will be ok.
It will certainly be interesting. Now I'm actually looking at GeoThermal to replace my HVAC. This is starting to be like a never ending rabbit hole. LOL
My utility company said I consumed about 9,800KWh for 2019, and this 9.5KW Solar Glass system is supposed to produce about 11,000KWh, so I should be okay.
I was seriously considering a 3rd PW but after speaking with a few folks from here, including someone who lives next town over from me, I'm confident my 2PWs will be ok.
It will certainly be interesting. Now I'm actually looking at GeoThermal to replace my HVAC. This is starting to be like a never ending rabbit hole. LOL
DirtyT3sla
Member
Wew that's a big system. I just got 14.4kW system installed (not by tesla). No powerwalls yet as they're very expensive, but the system is ready to add one when I have some spare cash 
FYI I currently have geothermal. I'm in Michigan, and I'm sure it depends on where you live, but to power my geo off solar I would have had to double the size of my system. Since my geo rate is ~0.01 cents per kWh, it didn't make sense financially to run any of the geo meter on solar.
FYI I currently have geothermal. I'm in Michigan, and I'm sure it depends on where you live, but to power my geo off solar I would have had to double the size of my system. Since my geo rate is ~0.01 cents per kWh, it didn't make sense financially to run any of the geo meter on solar.
gigawatt1010
Member
Thanks for the tip on Geothermal's power consumption. We have a virtual appointment with them next Saturday and I'll sure to ask that question.
@Zer0t - I see you're in NY as well. Keep us posted with your progress and congrats again!
@Zer0t - I see you're in NY as well. Keep us posted with your progress and congrats again!
Sorry this is at my house in Rumson, NJ. I live in an apartment in NYC. I don't know why I'm so excited about this but as mentioned earlier I've been fascinated by solar my many years. I was just about to do a 22kw Generac or Kohler natural gas generator and because of some gas plumbing location issues it would have been about 18k. The four power walls are 22k so it's a bit more than the generator. If it's way overkill I ratchet it back but my plan is try and run just about everything.
Congratulations!
One small thing... Even with 4 powerwalls, I would not plan on charging your car much in an outage sitaution.. You could of course, but each powerwall is 13.5 kW of energy, and your typical tesla EV has between 50 and 100 kW of battery. its a bit like using a triple a (AAA) battery to charge a D Battery. In your case, you would be using 4 AAA batteries to fill 1 D battery. You would be able to do it, but your car will suck down power like its no tomorrow.
One thing that is great with having powerwalls with solar, is that you can still use your solar in a power outage situation with powerwalls, and without some sort of storage situation your solar will not function in a power outage to power your home.
I had a 3.5 day outage last year, and it was EXTREMELY frustrating to know I had solar on my home, that was producing energy, but it was not able to power my home because I did not have battery storage. I have powerwalls now so wont go through that again.
You likely will be able to run everything with 4 powerwalls, but you wont want to charge your car for more than enough energy to get to a supercharger.
charlesj
Active Member
Yes, that is frustrating to no end. I'd like to see the neighbor's faces after my PW installs and an outage at night with my lights, TV on and no generator noise blasting the neighborhood.
charlesj
Active Member
Need a good method to remember which is which like when to use affect and effect. Me too.
Yes, that is frustrating to no end. I'd like to see the neighbor's faces after my PW installs and an outage at night with my lights, TV on and no generator noise blasting the neighborhood.
My neighborhood has already designated our house (the only one with Powerwalls) the party zone during the next PSPS.
Ok first problem. They sent the design for my house but there’s no way they can know the roof layout. I’m assuming they must have used google earth? The problem with that is I bought a house and knocked it down to build the current one. We completed it January so of course google earth is showing the original smaller home that was here. The issue is the roof space in the old home was very little (the house was tiny) and they designed a 7.56kw system for the roof. The quote says it will produce 8587.69 kWh of electricity. This doesn’t seem like nearly enough. I was afraid this would happen and if calling Tesla energy is anything like calling about the car I’m worried about getting through to tell them the roof they used is wrong.
one quick q. If the utility is having an outage will the solar still work during the day with power wall? I know,it won’t without it but curious if that limitation is removed with battery backup.
one quick q. If the utility is having an outage will the solar still work during the day with power wall? I know,it won’t without it but curious if that limitation is removed with battery backup.
You should still be talking to the sales people. They have an incentive to get it right. They returned our calls pretty promptly (a few days). Maybe you can send them a copy of the new house plans to work from.
gigawatt1010
Member
So far, I’ve been getting in touch with them with very little, to no hold time at all. I was actually talking to them this afternoon. 877-571-7652 is the number I’ve been using to call them.
I’m sure they can straighten it out during this phase. They may ask you for blueprints and will go off from there.
If you can get the data from your utility company, find out your usage in KWh for the year and go slightly higher than that.
EDIT*. Nevermind, just realized you just completed the house. Congrats! I love Rumson. I go to Redbank once in a while, have friends there.
charlesj
Active Member
Yes, that is the hole purpose of Tesla power walls. It generates 240V AC and allows the solar power to go where it needs to except the grid. If house usage is less than solar generation, it will charge the batteries.
You can program the Gateway, nerve center, to have the batter for backup only, combo usage to a certain battery drain level and even time of usage to get the most out of price wise if you are forced into time of usage cost increase.
Thanks I’ll call the number today. I’m really excited at the prospects of this.
ok, they revised the plan to 11.34 KW giving me 11,100 KwH of production for the year. The cost is 41,158.36 then I'll get a 10,199 federal tax credit. The price includes 3 power walls and 2,000 worth of trenching from my detached garage to my house. The net is 31,058.73. I think this is where I was expecting to be so I'm excited to move forward.
So the panels without the power walls are 28,999.78 producing 11.34kw so that's $2.56 / KW. I'm assuming that's not terrible.
So the panels without the power walls are 28,999.78 producing 11.34kw so that's $2.56 / KW. I'm assuming that's not terrible.
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gigawatt1010
Member
I signed one document online and agreed to the terms of payment and price. I’m not sure what else To be expecting. The status changed to permits (1 - 5 weeks).Great, did you sign off on the paperwork yet? We're now on the hurry up and wait stage!
