Post Your Tesla Solar Layout

[willow_hiller]

Is the "cookie-cutter raking" really damaging to the roof or just trash talks from Tesla competitors?

This sounds incorrect to me. If you read Tesla's page on their mounting hardware it says their equipment actually requires 30% fewer penetrations than traditional mounting: Solar Panel Equipment | Tesla Support

You can see the mounting system installation process here: it's actually really straightforward. I imagine the ease of install is one of the reasons Tesla is cheaper than competitors.

 

[holeydonut]

I am pretty new to solar so would appreciate any comments/suggestion. Is the "cookie-cutter raking" really damaging to the roof or just trash talks from Tesla competitors? Why did Tesla decide to put so many panels on the north panels while all local installers choose not to in their design for me (one of them even climbed to the roof and did an inspection)? What is my option of working with Tesla (I assume I can't still cancel the order now?)

Thank you in advance.
View attachment 574551

Hi SD2020 - welcome to TMC!

Your post may be lost in the hundreds of other posts in this thread, so you may want to fork this into a new post and get advice on your installation. It seems like the core questions you're trying to address are:

1) Could you get west-facing panels on your home (ones facing the front of the house)?
2) Should you invest in north-facing panels on your home since you're trying to achieve a certain generation per year?
3) Would another installer provide a better outcome for you than Tesla?

You are correct, in the northern hemisphere, north-facing panels have a really tough time getting decent ROI. Assuming you're in SoCal, you'll still get decent production in the summer time, but in the winter those panels will not do enough to help you get value from them.

I'm not sure what type of roof you have, but if you have concrete tiles you'll be limited on the type of mount you can get on the west-facing (front of house ) side. As others have noted, Tesla's mounting hardware is rather standard (they bought a company called Zep a few years ago). But they are still confined to a certain grid pattern, and the solar panel cannot rotate 45 degrees off of their typical orthogonal sloping orientation to accommodate your interesting roof lines.

Your unique situation since you're somewhat panel constrained, you may want to invest in panels like Sunpower A and X line that are more efficient per panel. As others have noted, Tesla likes "cookie cutter" easy installs to maximize their margins and deliver low costs. You may have to pay more for a curated setup, but it seems like a local installer may make more sense for you to get something you'd like on your house.

 

[k-mal_808]

I was not. When my install was scheduled it was about 2.5 weeks out. I asked the scheduler if they had anything sooner and she said that she didn’t, but she said she did note in my account that I was open to an earlier date if they had a cancellation. I tried calling after a week or so to see if there were any cancelations, but there were not. My install happened on the date it was originally scheduled.

Called scheduling, waited on hold for 20 minutes, but man was it worth it. The advisor said the online scheduling portal is still pretty new and sometimes doesn’t show all available dates(she said it varies by location). She was able to contact the person in charge of Hawaii scheduling and they had an opening on the 25th of this month. Shaved my wait time in half. I’ll probably start a thread documenting the process since I haven’t seen much from HI buyer/owners on here. Thanks for the reply Brett.

 

[SD2020]

I’m not sure I really agree with everything that they are saying. I mean if you look at some of your panels they are definitely not installed in a grid pattern or anything like that. I’m not sure how much more of custom configuration the other installer could have done.

I do agree that tesla doesn’t always come up with the most optimal configuration at first, but they are usually pretty willing to work with you to redo the config to meet your desires. If you can’t get through to them via email, try calling 877-571-7652. They are usually more responsive by the phone.

Thank you BrettS. I have called

 

[SD2020]

I’m not sure I really agree with everything that they are saying. I mean if you look at some of your panels they are definitely not installed in a grid pattern or anything like that. I’m not sure how much more of custom configuration the other installer could have done.

I do agree that tesla doesn’t always come up with the most optimal configuration at first, but they are usually pretty willing to work with you to redo the config to meet your desires. If you can’t get through to them via email, try calling 877-571-7652. They are usually more responsive by the phone.

Thank you BrettS. I called the number today and they told me 1) the energy specialist is no longer with my project so that might be the reason he was not responding 2) they made the note to the design team to move as many panel as possible from north facing to west facing.

 

[SD2020]

Hi SD2020 - welcome to TMC!

Your post may be lost in the hundreds of other posts in this thread, so you may want to fork this into a new post and get advice on your installation. It seems like the core questions you're trying to address are:

1) Could you get west-facing panels on your home (ones facing the front of the house)?
2) Should you invest in north-facing panels on your home since you're trying to achieve a certain generation per year?
3) Would another installer provide a better outcome for you than Tesla?

You are correct, in the northern hemisphere, north-facing panels have a really tough time getting decent ROI. Assuming you're in SoCal, you'll still get decent production in the summer time, but in the winter those panels will not do enough to help you get value from them.

I'm not sure what type of roof you have, but if you have concrete tiles you'll be limited on the type of mount you can get on the west-facing (front of house ) side. As others have noted, Tesla's mounting hardware is rather standard (they bought a company called Zep a few years ago). But they are still confined to a certain grid pattern, and the solar panel cannot rotate 45 degrees off of their typical orthogonal sloping orientation to accommodate your interesting roof lines.

Your unique situation since you're somewhat panel constrained, you may want to invest in panels like Sunpower A and X line that are more efficient per panel. As others have noted, Tesla likes "cookie cutter" easy installs to maximize their margins and deliver low costs. You may have to pay more for a curated setup, but it seems like a local installer may make more sense for you to get something you'd like on your house.

Thank you, holeydonut. Also thank you @willow_hiller. Both of you are so nice of giving me detailed information. I had a phone call with Tesla today and she told me that maybe they pass west roof because it is the front of the house. I don't mind having solar on my front roof and it actually looks pretty good for me so I requested she changed the design. I haven't seen the new layout but will be happy to share here if I get an udpate.

 

[avdavidw]

Hello, I’ve been lurking quite a while and this place has been really helpful. My order has moved to the permitting stage and I wanted to share the layout.

Yes, 72 panels, that’s not a typo. We have a small farm and sadly we will still be reliant on the grid. We have large live oak trees to the west and south that will impact production which is why it’s lower than you’d expect.

Chose 2 power walls for now. Just looking to backup the essentials. I expect to add a more in a few years after we replace our energy hog of an A/C system. Screenshot shows whole home backup but that’s incorrect.

 

[pdx_m3s]

Hello, I’ve been lurking quite a while and this place has been really helpful. My order has moved to the permitting stage and I wanted to share the layout.

Yes, 72 panels, that’s not a typo. We have a small farm and sadly we will still be reliant on the grid. We have large live oak trees to the west and south that will impact production which is why it’s lower than you’d expect.

Chose 2 power walls for now. Just looking to backup the essentials. I expect to add a more in a few years after we replace our energy hog of an A/C system. Screenshot shows whole home backup but that’s incorrect.

View attachment 574724

Wow! That’s the largest system I’ve seen posted here. What’s your inverter situation?

 

[avdavidw]

Wow! That’s the largest system I’ve seen posted here. What’s your inverter situation?

Having the worlds largest Tesla Solar system wasn’t a goal of mine, I promise!

I feel like I understand about 70% of the solar stuff I look at so if this isn’t what you were after let me know.

This is what’s in my customer layout pdf. Seems kind of generic. I’m not finding anything more specific for my installation.

 

[SD2020]

Tesla solar is not for everyone in every situation. They are very streamlined and geared towards repeatable volume, not highly specialized, low-volume installs. They leave that for the local installers. It's unfortunate, but it's how they keep their fixed low cost possible. Tesla is a business and they operate it as such.

One thing that bothers me is that these solaredge inverters have 12-25 years warranty. The purchase agreement mentioned 10 years warranty for inverters, which Tesla told me was out of date. Most Enphase inverters offer 25 years of warranty.

 

[MP3Mike]

One thing that bothers me is that these solaredge inverters have 12-25 years warranty. The purchase agreement mentioned 10 years warranty for inverters, which Tesla told me was out of date. Most Enphase inverters offer 25 years of warranty.

The difference may that Tesla's warranty is on top of SolarEdge's. Maybe for the first 10 years you have a parts and labor warranty via Tesla, after that you have the remaining, parts only warranty from SolarEdge.

 

[willow_hiller]

This is what’s in my customer layout pdf. Seems kind of generic. I’m not finding anything more specific for my installation.

For my 36 panel system they're using one 11.4 kW AC SolarEdge inverter. So for 72 panels I imagine they'll be able to use 2x 11.4 kW AC inverters.

 

[zƬesla]

@avdavidw That much PV production could overwhelm 2 PWs. May want to make sure they set something up where PWs can still charge during an outage unless you have some other goal

 

[niveknow]

Anyone know the incremental cost of a single panel to be added on top of the "packages"?

 

[miimura]

@avdavidw That much PV production could overwhelm 2 PWs. May want to make sure they set something up where PWs can still charge during an outage unless you have some other goal

With 24kW of solar and two Powerwalls, I think it's pretty obvious that only one inverter would be wired to the backup side of the Gateway.

 

[jboy210]

@avdavidw That much PV production could overwhelm 2 PWs. May want to make sure they set something up where PWs can still charge during an outage unless you have some other goal

It is a partial home backup. OP said diagram incorrectly says "Whole House"

 

[William19744]

Hello, I’ve been lurking quite a while and this place has been really helpful. My order has moved to the permitting stage and I wanted to share the layout.

Yes, 72 panels, that’s not a typo. We have a small farm and sadly we will still be reliant on the grid. We have large live oak trees to the west and south that will impact production which is why it’s lower than you’d expect.

Chose 2 power walls for now. Just looking to backup the essentials. I expect to add a more in a few years after we replace our energy hog of an A/C system. Screenshot shows whole home backup but that’s incorrect.

View attachment 574724

A couple of questions if you do not mind. How long did it take them to complete your layout and why is your estimated annual production less than your system size in Florida?

 

[avdavidw]

A couple of questions if you do not mind. How long did it take them to complete your layout and why is your estimated annual production less than your system size in Florida?

Layout and re-layout were both completed within a week each. I didn't pay attention to the exact time but both times seemed quicker than I expected.

Production is reduced due to the large 200+ year old live oak trees to the west and south of the house. I may do some more trimming to them but I'm unwilling to remove them. I'll see what actual production is and make decisions based on that.

The panels on the far west edge probably won't do much. I considered just removing them but given our energy needs I figured even 20% of their capacity is better than nothing.

 

[willow_hiller]

Anyone know the incremental cost of a single panel to be added on top of the "packages"?

If you're talking about the cost of sizes outside of the 4 presets, it's all $2.01 per watt including installation. So theoretically each additional panel you add to your order will add $683.40 to the final price (340 watt * $2.01 per watt).

If you're talking just about the price of the panels themselves, my system itemized cost (when the price for a Large system was $1.92 per watt) said that 36 panels was $6,580. So the hardware cost of a single panel is $182.78 or so. But I don't think Tesla will sell it to you for that much without installation.

 

[pdx_m3s]

If you're talking about the cost of sizes outside of the 4 presets, it's all $2.01 per watt including installation. So theoretically each additional panel you add to your order will add $683.40 to the final price (340 watt * $2.01 per watt).

If you're talking just about the price of the panels themselves, my system itemized cost (when the price for a Large system was $1.92 per watt) said that 36 panels was $6,580. So the hardware cost of a single panel is $182.78 or so. But I don't think Tesla will sell it to you for that much without installation.

For me, it was about $650 a panel. I had to drop 3 panels (went from 36 to 33) and it was a $1,950 reduction.