Solar Glass V3 + 2 PW ordered May 2, 2020

[gigawatt1010]

Hey Tesla energy folks, I thought I’d start this thread to document the timeline for solar glass V3. Installation is for our home in Orange County, NY.

May 2, 2020

• ordered Solar Glass with $100 deposit
• Uploaded 1 year worth of electric bill from my utility company (Orange & Rockland)
• Went through the workflow on Tesla’s website, uploading pictures of my utility panel, meter, garage wall where I’d want the PW

May 4, 2020

• Tesla sent me the design for my system based on my consumption for the past 12 months.
• 9.5KW to produce about 11,000 KWh. Based on my past 12 month consumption, I used about 9,700KWh
• They quoted me 2PW to power my 2,800sq ft home.

May 6, 2020

• Tesla sent me the finance application through Mossaic
• Received approval within 5 min

May 12, 2020

• Tesla sent more docs for me to sign and acknowledge (Permits, NY tax exemption, etc)

This is where we are right now. I will keep updating this thread with progress. I hope this can be a guide for anyone who’s curious about Solar Glass install in early - mid 2020.

 

[roofsolartexas]

Congrats, did they get that design ready in one try? Do they require 3 months or 12 months? I thought I read two separate things requiring 3 months, then something about 12 months. Thanks.

 

[patrick40363]

Hey Tesla energy folks, I thought I’d start this thread to document the timeline for solar glass V3. Installation is for our home in Orange County, NY.

May 2, 2020

• ordered Solar Glass with $100 deposit
• Uploaded 1 year worth of electric bill from my utility company (Orange & Rockland)
• Went through the workflow on Tesla’s website, uploading pictures of my utility panel, meter, garage wall where I’d want the PW

May 4, 2020

• Tesla sent me the design for my system based on my consumption for the past 12 months.
• 9.5KW to produce about 11,000 KWh. Based on my past 12 month consumption, I used about 9,700KWh
• They quoted me 2PW to power my 2,800sq ft home.

View attachment 542297


May 6, 2020

• Tesla sent me the finance application through Mossaic
• Received approval within 5 min

May 12, 2020

• Tesla sent more docs for me to sign and acknowledge (Permits, NY tax exemption, etc)

This is where we are right now. I will keep updating this thread with progress. I hope this can be a guide for anyone who’s curious about Solar Glass install in early - mid 2020.

What was the price they quoted?

 

[gigawatt1010]

@roofsolartexas - I'm assuming you're asking about utility bills. They only required 3 months, but I uploaded 12 months worth so they have a better picture. I noticed when I tried to configure Solar Panels, my electricity usage required about 12KW. When I asked the Sales Advisor why that was, he said that's because the Solar Glass are more efficient than Solar Panels.

@patrick40363 - here's the breakdown:

 

[patrick40363]

@roofsolartexas - I'm assuming you're asking about utility bills. They only required 3 months, but I uploaded 12 months worth so they have a better picture. I noticed when I tried to configure Solar Panels, my electricity usage required about 12KW. When I asked the Sales Advisor why that was, he said that's because the Solar Glass are more efficient than Solar Panels.

@patrick40363 - here's the breakdown:

View attachment 542334

They haven't done my design yet but they did come back with a 9.5kw system. I told them I want 12kw. You can't add on after the fact so better to have a larger system if you think your usage/rates might increase.

 

[jboy210]

Wow this was so quick. Congrats. Ours had a week or so between the steps done by Tesla. Have they scheduled the site inspection yet?

 

[Gaetandp]

how much sq feet area are actually solar glass tiles. doesn't look so big?

 

[cantbechanged]

How old is the roof you are replacing? How much did that factor in your decision to get the Solar Roof vs Solar Panels?

 

[gigawatt1010]

@Gaetandp - unfortunately, I don't have the square footage. If I were to guesstimate, it's probably about 2700sqf. The roof has a lot of angles and dormers and I was told the the glass tile is about 45" in length and they have to have at least 9 strung together horizontally to be most efficient. With the various angles in my roof, apparently, it's difficult to get more. The placement of the chimney and exhaust spout (see above) also makes it difficult for them since those things cast shadows. I did speak to them yesterday and told them to maximize my roof space for PV. Waiting for them to give me a new proposal.

@cantbechanged - honestly, the roof is not that old. We built our home 6 years ago, so the roof is 6 years old. As a personal preference, we didn't really liked the look of the panels added on to the roof. Also, our contractor did a crappy job with our roof that it already had leaks due to missing asphalt shingles. Can't come after him since he folded and filed bankruptcy about 3 years ago. Several of my neighbors that he built already replaced their roofs.

So, the prospect of having a new, better built leak free roof from a more reputable source, plus the incentives that are at their peak this year (2020) and not to mention solar production and being closer to carbon neutral, we decided to pull the trigger.

Just a general update - I talked to Tesla yesterday and I was told 1st week of July is a tentative install date.

 

[cantbechanged]

Thanks @gigawatt1010. Good luck with the install and I look forward to seeing how it all turns out for you!

 

[gigawatt1010]

@jboy210 - sorry I must’ve missed your post. They didn’t schedule site inspection yet. Not sure if they’re still doing that due to the pandemic. They had me take a ton of pictures. Breaker box, electric meter, HVAC system, etc. from what the guy was telling me, they based most of it from pics and their conversations with me. I think they just show up and make adjustments as necessary. I’ll update this thread with progress

 

[jboy210]

@jboy210 - sorry I must’ve missed your post. They didn’t schedule site inspection yet. Not sure if they’re still doing that due to the pandemic. They had me take a ton of pictures. Breaker box, electric meter, HVAC system, etc. from what the guy was telling me, they based most of it from pics and their conversations with me. I think they just show up and make adjustments as necessary. I’ll update this thread with progress

I sent them a similar set of pictures. But they send a guy over to open up all of the electrical panels, A/C, look at the structure where the PowerWalls would be located, and crawl around the attic to ensure there were clearances. I think he spent about 4 hours, so a pretty through inspection. The guy had a cool welder mask and heavy vest on when he opened up the utility electrical box.

I assume the inspection was part of the pre-installation and done to ensure structure and electrical wiring did not need to be modified.

BTW, these roofing contractors really are fly-by-night operations. We were on the second 30 year tile roof in the 20 or so years we owned the house. Turns out the 30 year warranty is only good if the tile company and installer stay in business. And both seem to have about a 6 year lifespan.

I look forward to hearing about you install.

 

[Aikidoka]

Thanks for all the information Gigawatt. I'm considering doing the same as you but with a more complex roof. I'm curious what material they are installing under the solar tiles for the waterproof membrane. Please let us know what they specified.

I live in Florida on the coast and understand that Tesla now meets the wind codes but may have to do things different than they would in NY. I've been waiting until I get my MY before I complete the application for the solar tiles. It's interesting living vicariously through your process of doing this.

 

[jboy210]

Thanks for all the information Gigawatt. I'm considering doing the same as you but with a more complex roof. I'm curious what material they are installing under the solar tiles for the waterproof membrane. Please let us know what they specified.

I live in Florida on the coast and understand that Tesla now meets the wind codes but may have to do things different than they would in NY. I've been waiting until I get my MY before I complete the application for the solar tiles. It's interesting living vicariously through your process of doing this.

On my house the used Firestone Clad-Gard SA-FR. But someone said on theirs they used a different Firestone Clad-Gard that had more grip when wet. The stuff on our house you don't walk up when wet. But that also means water that gets past the tiles and onto the material sheds very fast. This document has some images of the material.

 

[wjgjr]

Having gone through my install just as the pandemic was starting to change behaviors here (as in, shook the hands of the installers to start, but maintained distance 2.5 weeks later when they left,) Tesla did to a pretty thorough inspection before drawing up the plans. However, even with that, there were some small changes in the exact layout of the equipment and where they ran the conduit. Unfortunately, I learned too late to save some time post-install, that both the county and utility needed to re-approve the updated plans, and Tesla didn't submit the updates to the utility right away, like they could have, and it seems they sent the county updates in two parts, which caused a delay as the first changes had to be approved before they submitted the second. Which is all a long way of saying that, especially if Tesla does not have a thorough plan coming in that they stick to, it doesn't hurt to make sure they are submitting any and all necessary changes for approvals as soon as possible.

We also had the Clad-Gard SA-FR underlayment.

 

[Aikidoka]

The Clad-Gard looks like a good product for this application. Most of the peel and stick membranes aren't rated for under metal roofs because of the heat and other time due to the insulation. This helps make the decision to go with it a lot easier. Thank you.

 

[jboy210]

The Clad-Gard looks like a good product for this application. Most of the peel and stick membranes aren't rated for under metal roofs because of the heat and other time due to the insulation. This helps make the decision to go with it a lot easier. Thank you.

I know nothing about these memebranes.

Having gone through my install just as the pandemic was starting to change behaviors here (as in, shook the hands of the installers to start, but maintained distance 2.5 weeks later when they left,) Tesla did to a pretty thorough inspection before drawing up the plans. However, even with that, there were some small changes in the exact layout of the equipment and where they ran the conduit. Unfortunately, I learned too late to save some time post-install, that both the county and utility needed to re-approve the updated plans, and Tesla didn't submit the updates to the utility right away, like they could have, and it seems they sent the county updates in two parts, which caused a delay as the first changes had to be approved before they submitted the second. Which is all a long way of saying that, especially if Tesla does not have a thorough plan coming in that they stick to, it doesn't hurt to make sure they are submitting any and all necessary changes for approvals as soon as possible.

We also had the Clad-Gard SA-FR underlayment.

You are scaring me. Our final inspection is tomorrow. From the city's page it should be virtual over FaceTime. I hope they are not as picky as your inspectors were because I know they did some problems solving on-site to get thing routed.

 

[wjgjr]

I know nothing about these memebranes.


You are scaring me. Our final inspection is tomorrow. From the city's page it should be virtual over FaceTime. I hope they are not as picky as your inspectors were because I know they did some problems solving on-site to get thing routed.

The inspection itself went very smoothly (other than the county inspector being 2+ hours late arriving) and was also done virtually with a Tesla employee video chatting with the inspector. The issue for us was that the county (per Tesla) is very picky about the plans exactly matching the documents given to the county, so it took a while to get the revised plans approved. Our utility has the same requirement to receive/approve the revised plans, and Tesla unfortunately didn't submit the revisions to the utility at the same time as they submitted them to the county, so now we are waiting for that approval. We have not had anything rejected - just takes a long time to get all the re-approvals.

 

[gigawatt1010]

@wjgjr - Great tips to watch out for regarding the county approvals. I guess I have to be on top of that to some extent.

I too know nothing about those membranes, all I know is It should be better than what my jackass builder put up on my roof.

@Aikidoka - Congrats in your Model Y. This is exactly why I created this thread. I will try to update this as often as I get progress from this project. Hopefully people can reference back to this in the future and laugh at how complex the solar installs are/were in 2020

 

[gigawatt1010]

Update:

Tesla just sent me the redesign, maximizing my roof for solar production and added a 3rd PW. New layout is 14KW + 3 PW.

Installation is still tentatively scheduled for early July.