Solar City / Tesla no bid residential solar upgrade

[Reeler]

I utilized the referral program to get a quote going to upgrade my solar system. With all the EVs we drive, our system designed to cover 80% of our usage is below 50%. After providing utility bills and specs on the current system, I was told that they will not install on homes with an existing system. Unbelievable.

I would have preferred a Tesla system to go with the Powerwalls I have on order, but not possible.

 

[Shygar]

There are separate teams that do the powerwall install vs. the solar panel/inverter install, so I'm not sure if there is much benefit for trying to do both together other than simplicity. I had both panels and the powerwall installed on the same day and it was two separate teams. I didn't know they didn't do upgrades to existing systems, but maybe it's a complexity issue that they just try to avoid right now.

 

[he1957]

Upgrading solar array systems based on string inverters is problematic. Micro-inverter panel based systems can be upgraded/expanded just by adding extra panels because each panel is independent of others and is not limited to a string-based inverter.

 

[Reeler]

I have a string inverter, but just make the new system separate. I find it hard to believe that they cannot figure out how to do it. Solar is not rocket science.

 

[racpuc]

SolarCity/Tesla does secondary solar installs. Attached is their standard agreement wavier when installing a second system. I suggest you get a more knowledgeable consultant

 

[Reeler]

I am only going to try so hard to get a company to take my money. Maybe my consultant was poorly trained. I don't really care the issue.

The company who installed the first half of the system 4 years ago will probably get the business.

 

[brucet999]

I utilized the referral program to get a quote going to upgrade my solar system. With all the EVs we drive, our system designed to cover 80% of our usage is below 50%. After providing utility bills and specs on the current system, I was told that they will not install on homes with an existing system. Unbelievable.

I would have preferred a Tesla system to go with the Powerwalls I have on order, but not possible.

Typical Solar City/Tesla Energy idiots. Nothing but cookie cutter solutions with no capability to handle anything out of the ordinary. They at first refused to quote for me on an up-coming new-construction house without one year of Edison bills! I finally got someone to admit the impossibility of that requirement and the guy then proposed 24 panels on an east-facing roof section despite there being both south and west-facing roof surfaces available. The property is two miles from the ocean where it is well known that a marine layer effect causes overcast skies most days until 10am.

I would contact leading solar module manufacturers (Sun Power, Panasonic, LG, etc.) and ask who their best installers are in your area.

 

[Reeler]

The installer who did my first system quoted me $20K for a 5KW system of SunPower panels. Does that sound about right?

They claim my Tesla Powerwalls will bolt onto their system easily whenever I get them from the referral program.

 

[Shygar]

The installer who did my first system quoted me $20K for a 5KW system of SunPower panels. Does that sound about right?

They claim my Tesla Powerwalls will bolt onto their system easily whenever I get them from the referral program.

20k installed before the tax credit?

 

[Reeler]

Yes. 12 year payback with all the local/Fed incentives.

 

[brucet999]

20k installed before the tax credit?

I have a quote for 4.9kW SunPower E20 327 with power optimizers for $18,500 in Orange County, CA

 

[abasile]

The installer who did my first system quoted me $20K for a 5KW system of SunPower panels. Does that sound about right?

They claim my Tesla Powerwalls will bolt onto their system easily whenever I get them from the referral program.

I'm assuming that's before the tax credit. On a per-watt basis, that's a bit less than what we paid here in the SoCal region for our SunPower panels, but we got top-of-the-line 360W panels with integrated micro-inverters, as well as a good production guarantee.

If you want the best panels that money can buy today, then I think SunPower is the way to go. That said, a Tesla solar roof would ultimately be my preferred option for locations where that would make sense. Even if the Tesla solar roof had been available earlier this year, however, it wouldn't have made sense on our home because (a) our roof isn't even visible from our street, (b) we need the most efficient panels we can get due to limited roof area, and (c) our existing roof is not that old.

 

[kev1n]

+1 on sunpower, i also went with them. i would not give solarcity my money. their sales rep were not very knowledgeable and they were very pushy with trying to get me to sign something without knowing the full story

 

[Reeler]

I want to get these installed before the tariffs and tax reform kill the value proposition.

 

[Rockster]

Not to derail this thread, but I'm about to walk away from Solar City/Tesla and keep the $38k I have earmarked for them. A year ago I got a quote from them, followed by a complete system design, including engineering drawings. After waiting another month for them to schedule an installation date, they sent me a letter saying they were canceling the job because they "didn't have an agreement" with my local electrical co-op, Coserv.

A year later (this summer) I bumped into a Solar City rep at a Tesla event and ask when they're going to be ready to install in a Coserv area. "By the end of September," was the response. So, we scheduled another site visit on Oct 2, which was supposed to result in an updated design within a week. Six weeks later they've still not delivered drawings and specs for a 9.3k system with a Powerwall. My queries were first met with excuses and promises for a design any day now and lately my queries have resulted in no response at all. They're either grossly incompetent, they were wrong about being ready to work in a Coserv area, or they've put everything on hold because of the pending panel tariffs, but in any event, they're no longer responding at all. Horrible customer experience. If this was my first experience with Tesla, I'd never have bought one of their cars.

*Worse yet, I spoke with Coserv and they told me that there's no such thing as a grid-tie agreement with any solar vendor. They're happy to integrate any solar system into their grid, whether installed by a third-party or installed by the customer. As long as it passes inspection, Coserv doesn't care.

Grrrrr.

 

[comanchepilot]

I have a quote for 4.9kW SunPower E20 327 with power optimizers for $18,500 in Orange County, CA

seems about right - did it include the net metering and Edison tie in documents?

We got quoted a consistent $21k or so [+/- 500] for anywhere from 5.6 - 6.2 kwh depending on panels etc.

I did an estimate at retail and came up with $6000 for panels.
$1000 for frames
$1000 for wiring and inverter [these were 300 watt panels] and switching
$1500 to my roofing guy to install them on my steel tile roof without drilling any where - its only 20 panels
$2500 for electrical, including upgrading my panel from 100amp to 150amp
I allocated $1000 of my time to coordinate everything and fill out the forms to grid tie and net meter.

Total was $12000 out of pocket and $13000 with my time factored in. Consider the profit in this industry now - panels are $1 a watt retail - more like 60 cents wholesale. The profit per install is over $12000 I imagine. For a $5000 investment. If you want to act as your own GC on this - you can save a bundle.

Net was $9100 after the rebate. Repay was a little over 3 years. Vs. 6 years with paid install.

Given present net metering 6wkh with a south facing roof offsets 100% of the cost of the power - not 100% of the power used - because the incredily high rates charged in California. 28 cents kwh in winter and 34 cents peak in summer. shoulder is 16 cents and over night is 11 cents.

 

[comanchepilot]

@Rockster $38k for less than a 10kwh system is highway robbery. . . .

 

[Rockster]

@Rockster $38k for less than a 10kwh system is highway robbery. . . .

Note that the quoted price includes a Powerwall, which added about $7500.

 

[brucet999]

I'm assuming that's before the tax credit. On a per-watt basis, that's a bit less than what we paid here in the SoCal region for our SunPower panels, but we got top-of-the-line 360W panels with integrated micro-inverters, as well as a good production guarantee.

If you want the best panels that money can buy today, then I think SunPower is the way to go. That said, a Tesla solar roof would ultimately be my preferred option for locations where that would make sense. Even if the Tesla solar roof had been available earlier this year, however, it wouldn't have made sense on our home because (a) our roof isn't even visible from our street, (b) we need the most efficient panels we can get due to limited roof area, and (c) our existing roof is not that old.

(d) Tesla SolarRoof is a new and unproven product which will have to operate at considerably higher temperatures than conventional panels.

 

[brucet999]

seems about right - did it include the net metering and Edison tie in documents?

Yes, turnkey.