Pulling the trigger on Tesla Solar Panels (Maryland)

[ckoval7]

I just went ahead and put my order in on Tesla's website for a Large (11.34kW) solar array. I answered some basic questions and uploaded the pictures of my utility meter and main electrical panel. I considered going for the three power walls, but I don't think it would be worth the extra $100/mo. I would be cool with just one, but that wasn't an option for the 11kW array. In my three years of living in this house I've never had problems with the power.

I will be documenting my experience in this thread.

Anyone else in MD go through this recently? How was your experience? What did the timeline realistically look like?

 

[ckoval7]

Here we are over a week later without a single peep from Tesla. I wonder if the delay is related to the pandemic.

 

[jboy210]

Here we are over a week later without a single peep from Tesla. I wonder if the delay is related to the pandemic.

Tesla solar seems to be scrambling to handle existing installs. Even in the best of times you can expect mutli-week delays due to things like engineering and permitting cycles.. I believe after we paid our $100 and uploaded pictures it took 3-4 weeks before they came back with a plan. Then more time before they did an on-site survey ... Bottom line is we started in October and they would have just finished the install if the had not had to pull their crews. Now our roof is only 1/2 complete. Supposed to restart tomorrow.

 

[DrSmile]

2 Powerwalls are preferable to 1 because then you can back up your entire main panel, no sub-panel needed and you don't have to make compromises on what has power backup. Also with the size of your system 2 Powerwalls will charge properly during power outages while one will not (too much power from the panels).

 

[ckoval7]

Still no word from Tesla on this, however my neighbor who owns a construction company told me the counties in my state aren't issuing any new permits due to the pandemic.

 

[willow_hiller]

I just went ahead and put my order in on Tesla's website for a Large (11.34kW) solar array. I answered some basic questions and uploaded the pictures of my utility meter and main electrical panel. I considered going for the three power walls, but I don't think it would be worth the extra $100/mo. I would be cool with just one, but that wasn't an option for the 11kW array. In my three years of living in this house I've never had problems with the power.

I will be documenting my experience in this thread.

Anyone else in MD go through this recently? How was your experience? What did the timeline realistically look like?

Thanks for your updates on this. I've been seriously considering Tesla solar myself, although I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I think the large system probably is the best value, we pay about $0.15 per kWh, which means that it would pay for itself in just over 6 years or so.

I'm in MD as well, and the fact that our state does net metering means that Powerwalls are slightly less of a cost-saving measure than they would be otherwise. The only real advantage is that they can act as a back-up whenever the grid goes down.

Just in case you're not already aware, there is a $1,000 per project grant from the state that you can apply for after turn-on: MEA - Residential Clean Energy Rebate Program I think there are also SRECs (Solar Renewable Energy Credits) you can apply for if you register the system. They're currently trading for $70 per mWh (which works out to $0.07 per kWh) but they can make a difference in the payback time.

Once you do get the go-ahead, please do keep this thread updated. We had Tesla install our Wall Connector directly and the former SolarCity guys that came out to do it did a great job, so I'm interested to hear how they do with solar.

 

[cantbechanged]

We were thinking of getting Tesla Solar and Powerwalls installed in MD as well. Our electric company is BGE and from what I can tell on their site, if you have Net Metering, you are not eligible for TOU. Here is the quote from their FAQ:

"ALL BGE rates are eligible for net metering with the exception of 48RD, 49EV, and unmetered Private Area Lighting accounts. 48RD is a Pilot Program for TOU customers where they are billed On-Peak and Off-Peak. It does not include Intermediate-Peak rate. 49EV is a rate for customers with an electric vehicle. Unmetered Private Area lighting accounts are billed a fixed dollar amount and do not have a meter."
My Green Power Connection FAQs | Baltimore Gas and Electric Company

Does anyone on here have a rate different than the standard "R" rate with your Solar and/or Powerwalls? The other rates they have listed are RL, EV, and RD.

It seems like what @willow_hiller said about the only real advantage of Powerwalls is to act as a backup and allow solar to produce still when the grid is down. Am I missing anything? I was going to purchase 2-3 Powerwalls, but upwards of $20K for that marginal benefit is questionable.

 

[willow_hiller]

Does anyone on here have a rate different than the standard "R" rate with your Solar and/or Powerwalls? The other rates they have listed are RL, EV, and RD.

It seems like what @willow_hiller said about the only real advantage of Powerwalls is to act as a backup and allow solar to produce still when the grid is down. Am I missing anything? I was going to purchase 2-3 Powerwalls, but upwards of $20K for that marginal benefit is questionable.

There was a thread on Pepco TOU a while ago where we concluded that unless you have the ability to install an independent meter on your Wall Connector, it would likely end up being more expensive than the normal residential rate: Who in Maryland has applied for the Pepco Time of Use Discounted EV Charging?

I haven't looked much into BGE, but if you've got the V3 Wall Connector with wifi you may be able to take advantage of their EV only rate without having to install a new meter: EV-Only Time of Use Rate | Baltimore Gas and Electric Company

And on Powerwalls, there is upwards of $5,000 state income tax credit on energy storage: Maryland Energy Storage Income Tax Credit- Tax Year 2020 Net metering does make them less of a financial opportunity and more of just a nice thing to have, but legislation could change.

Edit: Speak of the devil... FERC Might Rewrite Solar Net Metering. Here’s What That Could Mean

 

[cantbechanged]

I came to the same conclusion as you as far as the EV/TOU rate goes. The peak rate obliterates any savings from the lower EV portion. The standard R rate isn't terribly high and we don't have to worry about when we run the A/C.

I've got two of the V3 Wall Connectors, but BGE doesn't play nice with them as far as I know. Here is their enrollment page. There was no rebate for buying them either.

 

[wjgjr]

I am in PEPCO territory, so I don't know all the details, but it looks like one of the rates you mentioned is a pilot (already closed) TOU Rate that did allow for solar/net metering - https://www.bge.com/MyAccount/MyBillUsage/Documents/Electric/Schedule_RD.pdf. The reason I mention that is that PEPCO has what looks to be a very similar pilot (R-TOU-P) program, with the same cap of 10% net metering. I'm not sure the source of these pilots, but it does suggest at least the possibility the state is looking at ways to push better TOU pricing at some point.

And it still puzzles me that the state is offering this great storage credit and then not working with at least the major electric companies to incentivize using them in a way that actually helps the grid or the environment by reducing overall peak demand.

 

[ckoval7]

I guess I should post an update. Tesla has determined that my roof is "not suitable for solar". This is probably because of the two giant trees on the south side of my house. They refunded the $100 deposit.

 

[wjgjr]

I guess I should post an update. Tesla has determined that my roof is "not suitable for solar". This is probably because of the two giant trees on the south side of my house. They refunded the $100 deposit.

That sucks - it is too bad that sometimes the one good of having nice, big trees can interfere with the good of solar power, and I think that will be an issue in a lot of established neighborhoods. I know where we are, there are a lot of tall, broad trees that block out the sun from roofs. ~5 years ago, we probably could not have done solar as our neighbor to the south had a large paper birch tree that would literally grow over our roof if not trimmed. But they had to remove it as it was getting old and causing them issues (and fortunately, they replaced it with a tree that won't get so tall.) We specifically had to make sure when we were first talking to Tesla and learned they were using imagery to estimate our solar that they had the latest as at the time google, for example, still showed the tree in the views or our house.

 

[TheTalkingMule]

That's a shame. Soon enough you'll be able to buy into an off-site community solar program and source effectively the same thing.

 

[willow_hiller]

That's a shame. Soon enough you'll be able to buy into an off-site community solar program and source effectively the same thing.

I could have sworn we had real community solar in Maryland, but the MEA released an update on their website here: Community Solar

"UPDATE 6/1/2020: The Maryland Energy Administration(MEA) has no knowledge, of community solar arrays built, or being built, using an ownership model at this time. As an ownership model is required to meet this program's eligibility criteria, MEA does not envision making any awards under this program for the remainder of the current fiscal year (through June 30th, 2020). Additionally, this program will be discontinued in fiscal year 2021 (which begins July 1, 2020) due to lack of demand."

 

[wjgjr]

I could have sworn we had real community solar in Maryland, but the MEA released an update on their website here: Community Solar

"UPDATE 6/1/2020: The Maryland Energy Administration(MEA) has no knowledge, of community solar arrays built, or being built, using an ownership model at this time. As an ownership model is required to meet this program's eligibility criteria, MEA does not envision making any awards under this program for the remainder of the current fiscal year (through June 30th, 2020). Additionally, this program will be discontinued in fiscal year 2021 (which begins July 1, 2020) due to lack of demand."

That is interesting. I'm guessing the logistics of securing the land and identifying enough interested users got in the way. The thing I have seen around here is co-op solar, where a bunch of neighbors get together to get a bulk bid from solar companies, in order to get more favorable pricing. I know there is at least one supposedly signing up houses in my county at present.