Question About Dips in Energy Graph

[johnnynumba5]

Hello TMC community. I've had Tesla solar for about 4 months now and it's been running great.

But since 1st of this September, I've noticed the energy graph for solar generation is no longer a smooth bell curve, but rather a jagged graph with a bunch of dips, especially on the latter half (please see attached image). The frustration part is dealing with Tesla support. My typical production of 40 ~ 45 kWh has now reduced to 15 ~ 20kWh.

I've emailed and called numerous times, and they keep telling me that the issue has been escalated and field support is in queue, but something-something is missing in the warehouse and they can't get the parts yet to fix the issue. They did mention something about an inverter possibly being broken.

I asked support if there's some sort of compensation or credit for all the energy I'm losing. She then said "Let me take a look at your contract," and tells me no there's no such guarantee. I asked then by context of her answer, what makes some people have it in their contract and some people not? She couldn't really answer just saying that it depends on the promotion?

I'm not sure if I'm being lied to but just wanted to ask some questions here for,

1) anyone else have this kind of energy graph issue or issue with the inverter? If so, how did you or Tesla resolve it? Looking for any insight.
2) is what support told me about "no guarantees" in the contract accurate? Has anyone been compensated for such energy loss?

Please advise, thank you!

J

 

[johnnynumba5]

Oh and just wanted to clarify that it's not a cloud-in-the-sky issue. It's been nothing but hot summer days this month, not a cloud in sight. And this phenomenon has happened consistently since 1st of September. Before that it was smooth bell curve every day.

 

[trautmane2]

1) anyone else have this kind of energy graph issue or issue with the inverter? If so, how did you or Tesla resolve it? Looking for any insight.

I have not had this kind of issue but have had production issues. If you post a little more information on your setup (e.g. what inverter(s) you have, what is the size of your system, ...), others might be able to offer some suggestions.

I would say the good news for you is that the issue is obvious and happens daily, so it is likely to get fixed eventually. My production issues only became obvious over longer time frames (or by having others with experience looking at low level data). My experience over the past two years has been that Tesla handles these problems very slowly and with poor communication on details, but they do eventually try to address problems.

2) is what support told me about "no guarantees" in the contract accurate? Has anyone been compensated for such energy loss?

That is how I interpret my contract, though it is unclear. I believe under most (if not all) more recent contracts they are obligated to correct any known issues at their cost but they are not obligated to compensate for lost production. I think there were some earlier contracts that had an explicit production guarantee, but they realized at some point that offering that guarantee was a bad idea. The "guarantee" in my contract seems to be more about the PV not degrading by too much over time. I doubt you were "lied to" or deceived - I think there is just a lot of variation and ambiguity. Are you able to find language in your contract that states a production guarantee?

 

[jjrandorin]

1. It sounds like you already did what is possible to do (contact tesla support). If they told you there is a bad inverter it sounds like they have already deduced there is an issue. There is nothing else you can do other than wait.

2. No recent tesla PV contract has production guarantees that we have heard about. Some old solar city ones might (tesla bought solar city) but you have had your system for 4 months, so you dont have a production guarantee in your contract.

 

[Redhill_qik]

1. It sounds like you already did what is possible to do (contact tesla support). If they told you there is a bad inverter it sounds like they have already deduced there is an issue. There is nothing else you can do other than wait.

Based on the first post it isn't clear if Tesla is taking any action at the moment, so waiting would be bad.

@johnnynumba5 you need to get a service call setup for them to diagnose and fix your system as it looks like the inverter is shutting down and restarting.

 

[jjrandorin]

Based on the first post it isn't clear if Tesla is taking any action at the moment, so waiting would be bad.

@johnnynumba5 you need to get a service call setup for them to diagnose and fix your system as it looks like the inverter is shutting down and restarting.

I based my post on this:

I've emailed and called numerous times, and they keep telling me that the issue has been escalated and field support is in queue, but something-something is missing in the warehouse and they can't get the parts yet to fix the issue. They did mention something about an inverter possibly being broken.

 

[johnnynumba5]

@trautmane2 - Thank you all for your input, I greatly appreciate it and it helps me feel at ease to be able to gain your insight.

If you post a little more information on your setup (e.g. what inverter(s) you have, what is the size of your system, ...), others might be able to offer some suggestions.

Size of the system is 8.5 kW DC Solar panels with 1 inverter (sorry I do not know what kind)

That is how I interpret my contract, though it is unclear. I believe under most (if not all) more recent contracts they are obligated to correct any known issues at their cost but they are not obligated to compensate for lost production. I think there were some earlier contracts that had an explicit production guarantee, but they realized at some point that offering that guarantee was a bad idea. The "guarantee" in my contract seems to be more about the PV not degrading by too much over time. I doubt you were "lied to" or deceived - I think there is just a lot of variation and ambiguity. Are you able to find language in your contract that states a production guarantee?

This makes perfect sense; thank you for the perspective. I looked over my solar loan agreement and unfortunately I don't see any kind of production guarantees, so I guess I'll just have to wait. It really sucks because I'm now paying for the loan, but I'm also gonna have to pay the grid since I'm not generating enough.

1. It sounds like you already did what is possible to do (contact tesla support). If they told you there is a bad inverter it sounds like they have already deduced there is an issue. There is nothing else you can do other than wait.

2. No recent tesla PV contract has production guarantees that we have heard about. Some old solar city ones might (tesla bought solar city) but you have had your system for 4 months, so you dont have a production guarantee in your contract.

@jjrandorin - Same sentiment as above; thank you for the input.

J

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Hello TMC community. I've had Tesla solar for about 4 months now and it's been running great.

But since 1st of this September, I've noticed the energy graph for solar generation is no longer a smooth bell curve, but rather a jagged graph with a bunch of dips, especially on the latter half (please see attached image). The frustration part is dealing with Tesla support. My typical production of 40 ~ 45 kWh has now reduced to 15 ~ 20kWh.

I've emailed and called numerous times, and they keep telling me that the issue has been escalated and field support is in queue, but something-something is missing in the warehouse and they can't get the parts yet to fix the issue. They did mention something about an inverter possibly being broken.

I asked support if there's some sort of compensation or credit for all the energy I'm losing. She then said "Let me take a look at your contract," and tells me no there's no such guarantee. I asked then by context of her answer, what makes some people have it in their contract and some people not? She couldn't really answer just saying that it depends on the promotion?

I'm not sure if I'm being lied to but just wanted to ask some questions here for,

1) anyone else have this kind of energy graph issue or issue with the inverter? If so, how did you or Tesla resolve it? Looking for any insight.
2) is what support told me about "no guarantees" in the contract accurate? Has anyone been compensated for such energy loss?

Please advise, thank you!

JView attachment 856940

It definitely looks like your inverter is having problems but fortunately it's restarting on its own. We have 4 inverters and one of them has problems on really hot days. It will stop producing and then not start back up. If I notice it, it might only be down for 10 to 15 minutes. If I don't notice it, it will be down for the rest of the day. It's easy to restart as we just turn the dial to off and then back on and things start working again within 5 to 10 minutes. Since yours is restarting automatically, you probably don't need to worry about restarting it yourself but it's definitely good to have your installer come out and take a look at it.

 

[johnnynumba5]

It definitely looks like your inverter is having problems but fortunately it's restarting on its own. We have 4 inverters and one of them has problems on really hot days. It will stop producing and then not start back up. If I notice it, it might only be down for 10 to 15 minutes. If I don't notice it, it will be down for the rest of the day. It's easy to restart as we just turn the dial to off and then back on and things start working again within 5 to 10 minutes. Since yours is restarting automatically, you probably don't need to worry about restarting it yourself but it's definitely good to have your installer come out and take a look at it.

Oh man, that sounds quite annoying. I'm afraid my system will end up doing that as well if Tesla doesn't take care of it soon. I email/text them every other day but there's never a response. If I call they just tell me it's in queue and there's no ETA. Sigh....

 

[jboy210]

Regarding the guarantee, most contracts I have seen have an annual production number. Our value is pretty conservative relative to our actual production. We could be down for a month or more and hit the number.

Also, our experience has been that a Tesla takes several weeks to a month or so to send someone out unless you are hard down, that is 0 production.

 

[charlesj]

....
Size of the system is 8.5 kW DC Solar panels with 1 inverter (sorry I do not know what kind)
...

J

Just an FYI, the inverter is your limiting factor here unless the inverter is larger than 8.5 kW capacity.

 

[johnnynumba5]

Regarding the guarantee, most contracts I have seen have an annual production number. Our value is pretty conservative relative to our actual production. We could be down for a month or more and hit the number.

Also, our experience has been that a Tesla takes several weeks to a month or so to send someone out unless you are hard down, that is 0 production.

That's good to know, but I did not see this "annual production number" language in the contract. Is there a specific wording I should look for? I'm specifically lookin in the Solar Loan Agreement. Thank you for your input, I greatly appreciate it.

 

[jboy210]

That's good to know, but I did not see this "annual production number" language in the contract. Is there a specific wording I should look for? I'm specifically lookin in the Solar Loan Agreement. Thank you for your input, I greatly appreciate it.

It was in the basic paperwork of the system we first signed. I don't have a loan so am unfamiliar with the loan documentation.

 

[charlesj]

That's good to know, but I did not see this "annual production number" language in the contract. Is there a specific wording I should look for? I'm specifically lookin in the Solar Loan Agreement. Thank you for your input, I greatly appreciate it.

As @jboy210 stated, this info would not be in a loan document. You should go back to the beginning of your process and look in all the documents.
Someplace it would indicate an estimated production that cannot be guaranteed as who knows what the weather will be in the future. This document may have mentioned estimates for each month as it certainly varies a great deal, due to length of days and the sun's arc across the sky between June and December and back to June.

 

[johnnynumba5]

As @jboy210 stated, this info would not be in a loan document. You should go back to the beginning of your process and look in all the documents.
Someplace it would indicate an estimated production that cannot be guaranteed as who knows what the weather will be in the future. This document may have mentioned estimates for each month as it certainly varies a great deal, due to length of days and the sun's arc across the sky between June and December and back to June.

Thank you for the feedback; I think I found it under a document called "Interconnection Agreement - Net Energy Metering". Thank you again.

 

[T0MMY]

My Tesla panels started doing that a month after the installation. Tesla determined the fan in my inverter was dead (which the on site tech confirmed) and the fast fail panels would shut down until they cooled off. That was 6 weeks ago and Tesla promised to send a new inverter in 2-4 weeks. I put a roof fan on the inverter and it works pretty good.

 

[charlesj]

Thank you for the feedback; I think I found it under a document called "Interconnection Agreement - Net Energy Metering". Thank you again.

Don't keep us in suspense, what is the estimated production.
Does it give expected production by month as well?

 

[johnnynumba5]

My Tesla panels started doing that a month after the installation. Tesla determined the fan in my inverter was dead (which the on site tech confirmed) and the fast fail panels would shut down until they cooled off. That was 6 weeks ago and Tesla promised to send a new inverter in 2-4 weeks. I put a roof fan on the inverter and it works pretty good.

Oh man! I would love to find out more about your makeshift fix. I think I need to do the same. Any insight as to what tools you used would be greatly appreciated!

 

[johnnynumba5]

Don't keep us in suspense, what is the estimated production.
Does it give expected production by month as well?

Well, I'm not 100% sure if this is it, but here's a snippet from the contract. It sort of gives me a formula but I think I have to look at my overall energy use annually and see if the panels did enough for the year to cover that amount. Is it similar wording as what you remember?

 

[wwhitney]

Well, I'm not 100% sure if this is it, but here's a snippet from the contract.

The sections excerpted do not constitute any production guarantee from Tesla. They are about your utility company's sizing guidelines.

Cheers, Wayne