Put together a video of the install. 11.23 kW system & estimated to generate ~15,000 kWh in the 1st year. Gutters will be going on next week, and just waiting on the city inspection and then PG&E PTO. So happy to have my driveway back!
Great to see you got it installed. Looks fantastic!! Also, those estimated generation numbers are great! Our estimate for the 12.75kW roof was 10,000 kWh because of tree shading. And unfortunately, I think that is accurate.
nearly 2 months & 3 city inspections later (1st two failed), it finally passed yesterday. Now on to PTO!
Fail #1: Underlayment. Not sure if it was b/c Firestone was initially supposed to be installed, then they switched to Cobalt and maybe some paperwork (unsure if on the permit or on the tesla paperwork) was not updated to reflect that and/or the inspector wanted documentation pointing to the Class A rating for the Cobalt underlayment. Fail #2: The inspector wanted to test the rapid shutdowns worked as expected, but Tesla was unable to produce an acceptable test. I assume the method to test regular PV panels (of which there are plenty in my city) vs the solar roof differed, and it wasn't acceptable to the inspector whatever the Tesla inspection team presented to him. Pass (yesterday): a senior inspector from tesla was out today and he was able to show the rapid shutdown did work that was acceptable to the city inspector (who was the same that failed the first 2). Hopefully this is shared to the other Tesla Inspection folks in my area so that others have an easier permit inspection process. So ultimately nothing needed to change in regards to what was installed, but rather procedural. Sucks that it took this long to resolve :\ but at least it's now just a matter of PG&E to approval the interconnection (fingers crossed).
It's interesting how some of this varies by jurisdiction.... As far as I can tell with our inspector out here in MD, they had absolutely no interest in the roof itself. All of the inspection was around the electrical work. This did happen during a time when inspectors stayed outside due to COVID (Tesla employee came inside and communicated via video with inspector.) But the inspector never came close to the house and nobody went up a ladder or even into the attic to inspect the roof or any of the electrical up there.
This was also my perception for my inspection in Virginia, though the inspector mentioned that the documentation Tesla submitted was particularly good. The inspector was about to fail my project because a bush was too close to the disconnect box. Fortunately, he let me move the bush while he waited and then signed off on the project.