Powerwall sales staff seems entirely focused upon retrofits. My experience is a woeful tale.
It took me 22 months to track down the team within Design & Engineering (D&E) that deals with integrating Powerwall installation requirements with the design phase of new home construction. I paid my deposit and submitted the questionnaire and follow-up site survey form in July 2017. The first two of my three Inside Energy Advisors were unable to put me together with their D&E team, repeating that I needed to wait until the project was closer to INSTALLATION. I did get a pdf of six generic plans, including one-line diagrams, but nothing particular to my house design. In January 2018 I pressed unsuccessfully for a design-coordination contact. I submitted residential plans to the County in June 2018, having been assisted by a local solar installer making some guesses on conduit sizes and bend radii.
In October 2018 I requested from my third Inside Energy Advisor a quote and design for Tesla to install both the 7 kW solar and a Powerwall.
In February 2019, I asked again.
Thirty days later, I asked again, as the third round of my plans was being finalized for review submittal.
My third Inside Energy Advisor had to be told several times in one telecon that I could not provide photos of the installation because it did not yet exist. (Honestly, I think he was stoned.) I was then advised (5 months after my first request for a quote) that Tesla could not install my panels because they are on an open-frame solar carport, not on a roof. I eventually convinced the Energy Advisor that he needed to forward my project to design at once, so that the plans could be coordinated before the County approved mine.
Then in early April 2019, after I posted about abysmal customer service on a Tesla Facebook forum, I was contacted by an Executive Resolutions Analyst. After a follow-up call from her one week later, I was contacted by a member of the D&E Team who advised me (for the first time since July 2017) that there is a special questionnaire for new construction, and that he was forwarding my project to specialists in Custom/New Construction situations. The next day, that person called to say that he would provide the special questionnaire, and that he would be my contact for coordinating the design.
Permitting of my project took so long because it is on the Sonoma Coast of California, and required a cultural resources survey, geotechnical exploration and report, a coastal permit (nine months), and final approval of a septic system. The house design is a kit home tailored to a 16-percent site slope, and there were foundation challenges that eventually required deleting the basement garage. But the Powerwall conduit sizes and runs should have been specified by Tesla in Month 1, so that those requirements could be seamlessly addressed during design. This week my plans are being submitted for the final County review, and only this week was I contacted by a Tesla designer. Any plan revisions will be change-orders.
As I advised my Executive Resolutions Analyst today:
"Effective January 1, 2020, California building standards will require solar in all new construction homes (or a permitted exception). Fire-season operational and liability realities for PG&E and SCE make precautionary service curtailments a future reality in rural and urban-wildland interface areas. Backup batteries are likely to be considered by many owners of new homes in those impacted areas. May I suggest that only a flawed business plan keeps as a dark secret within Tesla the procedures and contacts for design coordination with new construction projects."
I will post the special questionnaire for new construction when I get it.
It took me 22 months to track down the team within Design & Engineering (D&E) that deals with integrating Powerwall installation requirements with the design phase of new home construction. I paid my deposit and submitted the questionnaire and follow-up site survey form in July 2017. The first two of my three Inside Energy Advisors were unable to put me together with their D&E team, repeating that I needed to wait until the project was closer to INSTALLATION. I did get a pdf of six generic plans, including one-line diagrams, but nothing particular to my house design. In January 2018 I pressed unsuccessfully for a design-coordination contact. I submitted residential plans to the County in June 2018, having been assisted by a local solar installer making some guesses on conduit sizes and bend radii.
In October 2018 I requested from my third Inside Energy Advisor a quote and design for Tesla to install both the 7 kW solar and a Powerwall.
In February 2019, I asked again.
Thirty days later, I asked again, as the third round of my plans was being finalized for review submittal.
My third Inside Energy Advisor had to be told several times in one telecon that I could not provide photos of the installation because it did not yet exist. (Honestly, I think he was stoned.) I was then advised (5 months after my first request for a quote) that Tesla could not install my panels because they are on an open-frame solar carport, not on a roof. I eventually convinced the Energy Advisor that he needed to forward my project to design at once, so that the plans could be coordinated before the County approved mine.
Then in early April 2019, after I posted about abysmal customer service on a Tesla Facebook forum, I was contacted by an Executive Resolutions Analyst. After a follow-up call from her one week later, I was contacted by a member of the D&E Team who advised me (for the first time since July 2017) that there is a special questionnaire for new construction, and that he was forwarding my project to specialists in Custom/New Construction situations. The next day, that person called to say that he would provide the special questionnaire, and that he would be my contact for coordinating the design.
Permitting of my project took so long because it is on the Sonoma Coast of California, and required a cultural resources survey, geotechnical exploration and report, a coastal permit (nine months), and final approval of a septic system. The house design is a kit home tailored to a 16-percent site slope, and there were foundation challenges that eventually required deleting the basement garage. But the Powerwall conduit sizes and runs should have been specified by Tesla in Month 1, so that those requirements could be seamlessly addressed during design. This week my plans are being submitted for the final County review, and only this week was I contacted by a Tesla designer. Any plan revisions will be change-orders.
As I advised my Executive Resolutions Analyst today:
"Effective January 1, 2020, California building standards will require solar in all new construction homes (or a permitted exception). Fire-season operational and liability realities for PG&E and SCE make precautionary service curtailments a future reality in rural and urban-wildland interface areas. Backup batteries are likely to be considered by many owners of new homes in those impacted areas. May I suggest that only a flawed business plan keeps as a dark secret within Tesla the procedures and contacts for design coordination with new construction projects."
I will post the special questionnaire for new construction when I get it.
