Solar in AZ timeline

[Chancellor32]

05/01/19: ordered a 4kw system and PW.
05/08/19: home assessment was completed.
05/20/19: 1st proposal sent
05/23/19: final proposal sent/contract signed
05/23/19: was told plans were submitted to Utility(SRP)
05/30/19: turns our plans weren’t submitted, received zero one(L1) designs. Friend noticed Tesla incorrectly was installing meters inside garage and not outside.
05/31/19: new designs were corrected, meters outside now but Tesla decided to double my system to 8kw instead of 4kw. Designs sent back to team and now we wait.

Slightly concerned that every time I talk to designs they further mess up and that utility will reject designs. Has it been pretty smooth for everyone recently or lots of bumps? Lol

 

[Kenne74]

Currently in the process of getting my powerwall installed today. Yesterday was the main panel upgrade etc. and boy does SRP have a lot of requirements. About 5ft of my wall is all electric boxes! Looks pretty ridiculous but there was nothing I could do. They also cut some stucco out behind the main panel no clue why, but when I asked them if they were going to fix it I got a blank stare.... The foreman said he would make some calls to get someone to repair it. Let's see if they do or not....

Overall the crew is very nice and respectful. Right now I'm waiting on them to show up so I can decide where to mount my 2 powerwalls. They said most people mount to show them off, I said we will mount them where they make the most sense. I could careless if anyone can see them or not I just want to maximum the space in my garage.

Overall not a bad experience until I have to give them $21k and then I'll be annoyed ;-)

 

[Chancellor32]

Currently in the process of getting my powerwall installed today. Yesterday was the main panel upgrade etc. and boy does SRP have a lot of requirements. About 5ft of my wall is all electric boxes! Looks pretty ridiculous but there was nothing I could do. They also cut some stucco out behind the main panel no clue why, but when I asked them if they were going to fix it I got a blank stare.... The foreman said he would make some calls to get someone to repair it. Let's see if they do or not....

Overall the crew is very nice and respectful. Right now I'm waiting on them to show up so I can decide where to mount my 2 powerwalls. They said most people mount to show them off, I said we will mount them where they make the most sense. I could careless if anyone can see them or not I just want to maximum the space in my garage.

Overall not a bad experience until I have to give them $21k and then I'll be annoyed ;-)

Did you go with Tesla on install or someone else? If you don’t mind taking a picture of your setup that would be awesome! Concerned I don’t have enough wall space for everything.

 

[Kenne74]

I went with Tesla since I wasn’t in a huge hurry, but talking with the team they seemed very busy.

I asked for the panels to be higher, however, the lift couldn’t reach and nobody was interested in a safety incident today

You can see the amount of hardware on the side of my house and the stucco work they need to finish.

Tomorrow will be day 3 and they appear to be almost finished.

As for a lesson learned it appears my solar was off all day yesterday after they left and I got hit with that damn demand charge $75. They turned it back on this morning, I didn’t ask why I just left it alone...but I was a bit disappointed.

 

[Chancellor32]

I went with Tesla since I wasn’t in a huge hurry, but talking with the team they seemed very busy.

I asked for the panels to be higher, however, the lift couldn’t reach and nobody was interested in a safety incident today

You can see the amount of hardware on the side of my house and the stucco work they need to finish.

Tomorrow will be day 3 and they appear to be almost finished.

As for a lesson learned it appears my solar was off all day yesterday after they left and I got hit with that damn demand charge $75. They turned it back on this morning, I didn’t ask why I just left it alone...but I was a bit disappointed.

Gosh dang that’s a ton of boxes. What size system do you have?

 

[woferry]

And what do all of those boxes do?? And why three meters?

 

[Kenne74]

I have an 8kw system.

As for the 3 meters, I'm assuming the one near the solar inverter will not be required. I never thought to ask...guess I'll find out tomorrow.

 

[MitchMitch]

@Keene
Rube Goldberg-Ish . . .?
Maybe add a few more turns and you can get a super-collider effect going.
I Kid, I Kid
It looks (and SMELLS) W A Y better than a fossil fuel plant!

 

[miimura]

The number of disconnects in this system is over the top. I don't have any in my 2 Powerwall system.
1. I have micro-inverters, so there is no string inverter disconnect.
2. My AHJ did not require a disconnect between the Tesla Gateway and the main panel.
3. The third disconnect - is that another independent solar system connected at the upper right?

It looks like you're required to have RGM (Revenue Grade Metering) on your solar systems.

 

[Chancellor32]

I have an 8kw system.

As for the 3 meters, I'm assuming the one near the solar inverter will not be required. I never thought to ask...guess I'll find out tomorrow.

SRP(utility) requires 3 meters to monitor the grid, PV and battery independently.

 

[Chancellor32]

05/01/19: ordered a 4kw system and PW.
05/08/19: home assessment was completed.
05/20/19: 1st proposal sent
05/23/19: final proposal sent/contract signed
05/23/19: was told plans were submitted to Utility(SRP)
05/30/19: turns our plans weren’t submitted, received zero one(L1) designs. Friend noticed Tesla incorrectly was installing meters inside garage and not outside.
05/31/19: new designs were corrected, meters outside now but Tesla decided to double my system to 8kw instead of 4kw. Designs sent back to team and now we wait.
06/06/19: designs corrected again and sent to SRP for approval.

 

[Kenne74]

Well they complete the install and verified it was OK. I was pulling 1kw from the battery with both ACs running, I might reinstall my demand manager until I get comfortable with the system lol.

He powered it off and left for the day, but to my luck he left his meter installed, so I just turned it back on. Problem is the power walls are flashing green, which tells me the gateway isn't connecting. I'm assuming it's working I just can't see it in the app, oh well...

What I found interesting is when I killed all the power to the powerwalls were still blinking green. So either it's not wired properly or there is another reason the lights are staying on?

Waiting on the invoice so I can pay before they will schedule for inspection.

 

[Kenne74]

Got it working via 192.168.91.1, however, it's in backup mode so it is little use to me since I can't see it in the app to make any changes. I turned the unit off via the website for now.

Inspection is on 6/14.

 

[Chancellor32]

Got it working via 192.168.91.1, however, it's in backup mode so it is little use to me since I can't see it in the app to make any changes. I turned the unit off via the website for now.

Inspection is on 6/14.

Thanks for updating!

 

[Chancellor32]

05/01/19: ordered a 4kw system and PW.
05/08/19: home assessment was completed.
05/20/19: 1st proposal sent
05/23/19: final proposal sent/contract signed
05/23/19: was told plans were submitted to Utility(SRP)
05/30/19: turns our plans weren’t submitted, received zero one(L1) designs. Friend noticed Tesla incorrectly was installing meters inside garage and not outside.
05/31/19: new designs were corrected, meters outside now but Tesla decided to double my system to 8kw instead of 4kw. Designs sent back to team and now we wait.
06/06/19: designs corrected again and sent to SRP for approval

06/14/19: HOA approval
06/17/19: City Permits approved
06:24/19: Turns out Tesla never sent permits to SRP. Called Tesla and they resent them. They managed to send the wrong designs and was immediately rejected by my Utility. Tesla sent updates correct designs and now we wait.

I absolutely love Tesla but they literally have no clue what they are doing and with each mistake it makes me really second guess If I should be going with them.

 

[NuShrike]

Got it working via 192.168.91.1, however, it's in backup mode so it is little use to me since I can't see it in the app to make any changes. I turned the unit off via the website for now.

Inspection is on 6/14.

Password reset it and get it out of backup mode.

Tesla-messing-up: well we're all the same humans, so it's about the same experience for any installer. I can say if I didn't micro-manage whatever my third-party installers were submitting to the AHJ (as much as I could), there would've been a few more mistakes and delays than there were.

I've had to petition the city myself a few times because the installer didn't want to bother. I wouldn't have gotten 3 more inches past fire-code exclusion for panel installation, nor allowed garage installation for PW.

Even the best installers will make mistakes. Par for course.

The only person that will care and do right by your project is yourself.

 

[Chancellor32]

05/01/19: ordered a 4kw system and PW.

05/08/19: home assessment was completed.

05/20/19: 1st proposal sent

05/23/19: final proposal sent/contract signed

05/23/19: was told plans were submitted to Utility(SRP)

05/30/19: turns our plans weren’t submitted, received zero one(L1) designs. Friend noticed Tesla incorrectly was installing meters inside garage and not outside.

05/31/19: new designs were corrected, meters outside now but Tesla decided to double my system to 8kw instead of 4kw. Designs sent back to team and now we wait.

06/06/19: designs corrected again and sent to SRP for approval


06/14/19: HOA approval

06/17/19: City Permits approved

06:24/19: Turns out Tesla never sent permits to SRP. Called Tesla and they resent them. They managed to send the wrong designs and was immediately rejected by my Utility. Tesla sent updates correct designs and now we wait.

06/25/19: new designs failed haha

06/28/19: 3rd time designs are updated and they pass. Install scheduled for July 11th.

07/03/19: Tesla fails to update utility company that install date was moved till 11th. Utility shows up to change meters but can’t.

07/10/19: Both utility and city confirm new install date of the 11th.

07/11/19: install day, everything went extremely well and the install crew was stellar. Now we wait for PTO day!! Turns out I was first Tesla solar install since the SRP lawsuit.

 

[Chancellor32]

05/01/19: ordered a 4kw system and PW.

05/08/19: home assessment was completed.

05/20/19: 1st proposal sent

05/23/19: final proposal sent/contract signed

05/23/19: was told plans were submitted to Utility(SRP)

05/30/19: turns our plans weren’t submitted, received zero one(L1) designs. Friend noticed Tesla incorrectly was installing meters inside garage and not outside.

05/31/19: new designs were corrected, meters outside now but Tesla decided to double my system to 8kw instead of 4kw. Designs sent back to team and now we wait.

06/06/19: designs corrected again and sent to SRP for approval


06/14/19: HOA approval

06/17/19: City Permits approved

06:24/19: Turns out Tesla never sent permits to SRP. Called Tesla and they resent them. They managed to send the wrong designs and was immediately rejected by my Utility. Tesla sent updates correct designs and now we wait.

06/25/19: new designs failed haha

06/28/19: 3rd time designs are updated and they pass. Install scheduled for July 11th.

07/03/19: Tesla fails to update utility company that install date was moved till 11th. Utility shows up to change meters but can’t.

07/10/19: Both utility and city confirm new install date of the 11th.

07/11/19: install day, everything went extremely well and the install crew was stellar. Now we wait for PTO day!! Turns out I was first Tesla solar install since the SRP lawsuit.

07/23/19: Passed City inspection

07/30/19: PTO day! However we failed SRP inspection. Meter was too close to gas line and labeling was wrong.

07/31/19: Tesla came out and moved meter to be at least 36inches from gas line and corrected the labeling.

08/03/19: PTO day round 2! Passed inspection and we were given the green light!

08/04/19: First day fully running and resulted in .2kw pulled from grid from peak 2-8pm! Needless to say its working really well!

08/14/19: Been over a week now and the system runs amazing! Highest peak demand has been .2kw and battery usually ends the day at 8pm with 25-48% left over! Highest solar production was almost 25kw. Super happy overall!

 

[TSLA Pilot]

05/01/19: ordered a 4kw system and PW.

05/08/19: home assessment was completed.

05/20/19: 1st proposal sent

05/23/19: final proposal sent/contract signed

05/23/19: was told plans were submitted to Utility(SRP)

05/30/19: turns our plans weren’t submitted, received zero one(L1) designs. Friend noticed Tesla incorrectly was installing meters inside garage and not outside.

05/31/19: new designs were corrected, meters outside now but Tesla decided to double my system to 8kw instead of 4kw. Designs sent back to team and now we wait.

06/06/19: designs corrected again and sent to SRP for approval


06/14/19: HOA approval

06/17/19: City Permits approved

06:24/19: Turns out Tesla never sent permits to SRP. Called Tesla and they resent them. They managed to send the wrong designs and was immediately rejected by my Utility. Tesla sent updates correct designs and now we wait.

06/25/19: new designs failed haha

06/28/19: 3rd time designs are updated and they pass. Install scheduled for July 11th.

07/03/19: Tesla fails to update utility company that install date was moved till 11th. Utility shows up to change meters but can’t.

07/10/19: Both utility and city confirm new install date of the 11th.

07/11/19: install day, everything went extremely well and the install crew was stellar. Now we wait for PTO day!! Turns out I was first Tesla solar install since the SRP lawsuit.

07/23/19: Passed City inspection

07/30/19: PTO day! However we failed SRP inspection. Meter was too close to gas line and labeling was wrong.

07/31/19: Tesla came out and moved meter to be at least 36inches from gas line and corrected the labeling.

08/03/19: PTO day round 2! Passed inspection and we were given the green light!

08/04/19: First day fully running and resulted in .2kw pulled from grid from peak 2-8pm! Needless to say its working really well!

08/14/19: Been over a week now and the system runs amazing! Highest peak demand has been .2kw and battery usually ends the day at 8pm with 25-48% left over! Highest solar production was almost 25kw. Super happy overall!

May we pry please? Eight kW of Solar and two Powerwalls for how much total? (A one-payment lease, or regular purchase?)

I ask as we have a strong need for a PV system install in a new home in Glendale, but the killer issue will probably be the cost of the two Powerwalls; we'll need those to get any real benefit given the MASSIVE games Investor-Owned Pinnacle West (APS) and their "bought and paid for" members of the PUC are playing with Net metering.

Thanks!

 

[Chancellor32]

May we pry please? Eight kW of Solar and two Powerwalls for how much total? (A one-payment lease, or regular purchase?)

I ask as we have a strong need for a PV system install in a new home in Glendale, but the killer issue will probably be the cost of the two Powerwalls; we'll need those to get any real benefit given the MASSIVE games Investor-Owned Pinnacle West (APS) and their "bought and paid for" members of the PUC are playing with Net metering.

Thanks!

Sorry we got a 4kw and 1PW system, total cost was $20,200. In APS you would benefit more from a larger PV system vs having the PW. The reason I got the PW was too eliminate any demand charges from SRP and to get the $3600 rebate.