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Solarglass Roof install set for Feb 16-Mar1
- Thread starter jboy210
- Start date
The crews are back. Tesla has permission to finish existing installations. Lots of people here from Tesla and sub-contractor. Only issue is weather. First it was rain, now it is ice in the morning and slow drying. The SG roof is tough, but like a sheet of ice when wet. Things are starting late, but people are working later. Hopefully done in 3 days.
I was wondering how long they were going to have to leave your roof in that in between state.
Thanks.
Looks like a little longer maybe. It is raining again.
Hopefully better tomorrow.Looks like the glass is just about done and this is the last day of the install. They will spend it making connections to the inverters, running wiring, painting conduits.
Now the big wait for the city to inspect and PGE to give us PTO.
Now the big wait for the city to inspect and PGE to give us PTO.
A little more info.
- Roof is producing and Powerwalls are charging. (We weren't using grid when picture was snapped.)
- Looks like the City of Pleasanton inspection will be done over a video chat. Tesla will handle that and send one of their inspection team to deal with it. I hope they get it done soon and so does Tesla, because we do not pay them until that inspection is passed.
- They said they did not think PG&E would come out to the house to inspect before giving us PTO.
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Cirrus MS100D
Member
Beautiful! Apologies if you posted this elsewhere, but didn't see in this thread or your Google Doc diary, but care to share your total cost and/or breakdown?
We've got an original 1928 slate tile roof and have renovation plans for the end of the year. We're crossing our fingers that we can do Solar Glass roof (we've had our name on a preorder since it was initially announced back on v1...) and I agree that this type of design is most akin to slate (and probably other) tile roof- There is similar headlap and sidelap of the Solar Glass tiles, so it should do as good of a job protecting the roof sheathing as traditional tiles, which is to say "very good because it's been in use for hundreds of years."
While it pains us to remove the slate tiles, they are reaching the end of their lives and the maintenance is getting to be so much (many $thousands per year to fix broken, missing, cracked tiles due to age/wind/branch impact) that we need to redo the whole thing. While we liked the physical appearance of the v1/v2 tiles (and loved the original "slate look" unveiled initially), the current design of the v3 makes a lot of sense and still looks very good.
We've got an original 1928 slate tile roof and have renovation plans for the end of the year. We're crossing our fingers that we can do Solar Glass roof (we've had our name on a preorder since it was initially announced back on v1...) and I agree that this type of design is most akin to slate (and probably other) tile roof- There is similar headlap and sidelap of the Solar Glass tiles, so it should do as good of a job protecting the roof sheathing as traditional tiles, which is to say "very good because it's been in use for hundreds of years."
While it pains us to remove the slate tiles, they are reaching the end of their lives and the maintenance is getting to be so much (many $thousands per year to fix broken, missing, cracked tiles due to age/wind/branch impact) that we need to redo the whole thing. While we liked the physical appearance of the v1/v2 tiles (and loved the original "slate look" unveiled initially), the current design of the v3 makes a lot of sense and still looks very good.
I need to put some more info in the diary on costs and timelines. But basically the total cost is around $75,000. This is before any tax credits.
The cost is split at $60-61,000 for roof, $14,000 for two powerwalls. We needed a new tile roof and when we got quotes for that and solar panels they were over $60,000. And then we would have had to deal with getting the powerwalls. We could have saved from $14 to $10,000 going with a composite roof, but we wanted to stay with tile.
I believe that is the old pricing for the V3 roof. We ordered back in October. With the Power Shutoffs here in Northern California we are fine paying a bit more.
All the power flows look right in the app, too
Did you remember to pester them about submitting for your "solar shut off frequency" to be lowered? I know they said they would do this for you, but this is tesla we are talking about AND in the middle of everything that is going on with covid-19.I dont have high hopes for them actually submitting it for you and tesla changing it without you having to intervene, but really hope to be proven wrong. Dont get me wrong, I really like tesla (like many others in this section, I have a tesla vehicle, and tesla powerwallls, in addition to tesla provided solar.
With that being said, communication (especially between groups inside tesla) tends to not be their strong point.
All the power flows look right in the app, too
I dont have high hopes for them actually submitting it for you and tesla changing it without you having to intervene, but really hope to be proven wrong. Dont get me wrong, I really like tesla (like many others in this section, I have a tesla vehicle, and tesla powerwallls, in addition to tesla provided solar.
With that being said, communication (especially between groups inside tesla) tends to not be their strong point.
Tesla does have it faults in communication, but they are way better than the large roofing company we started looking at this roof + solar deal. They had 3 month gaps getting quote revisions to us.Tesla was a couple of weeks.
I talked to the install team about the frequency thing and they said I needed to speak to the tier two support once we had the system up, and that team would make the change on their end after checking what the system reads. Since we just got it up and will have to shut it off solar production and the powerwalls until we get the inspection down, the frequency for inverters has moved a little lower on the priority list.
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That makes a lot more sense (the install team not really being able to call it in). Yep, they likely wont even talk about it until you get full PTO since you have solar as well as powerwalls.
Agreed. I am not sure if the situation with Covid helps or hinders the timeline. On the one hand there are fewer solar installs, on the other hand people are distracted and working from home. Guess we will see.
But we are impatient. We feel like kids on Christmas morning. We have that shiny (literally shiny) new roof and Powerwalls, and we want to play with them and see what they do. Is everyone like this when they get solar installed?
I cant speak for "everyone" but for me personally.. yes, absolutely yes, 1000 times yes (lol). The wait for PTO for the solar install for me was like 7 weeks. I remember it CLEARLY like it was yesterday, and it was the beginning of 2016. I didnt even have powerwalls then. The city inspection only took like 3-4 days (just like it did for my recent powerwall install), and the rest of the time is spent just.....waiting.....in a vacuum.... for someone to say "you can turn it on".
I called tesla like every couple of weeks, kept asking what the hold up was. It was just slow on SCE (my utility) part back then I was told.
Even now, I did not get "official PTO" for my powerwall add-on until 2 months after install. Install was Jan 6th, official PTO was March 6th. The only difference is, when you add on powerwalls to an existing solar install, you already have PTO for the solar. Once the city inspection passes for the add on powerwalls, you can basically run the system while you are waiting for official PTO. The reason this is (basically) is, because you already have an official PTO on the solar (so whatever net metering agreements etc are in place), adding the powerwalls does not INCREASE the amount of power you are sending back to the grid. It either doesnt change it at all (if you are running in backup only) or decreases it (almost any other mode).
So, there is no real way for the utility to know for 100% fact you are running it, and from a safety perspective you are not pushing any more electricity into the grid, so you are not endangering the grid, etc. The city inspection verifies "safety" and helps complete your permit, so at that point you are good to go on a powerwall add on.
When you have solar + powerwall, you are adding net metering, pushing power out to the grid, etc that was not happening before. The utility can fine you if you run the system and push power back to the grid before you have PTO and they will easily see it because you previously were not pushing ANY power back to the grid. They dont have to fine you, etc, but in my opinion you dont want to do anything that "angers" the utility or causes them to delay things further.
In your specific case though, since you have solar + powerwall, if you really wanted to, after you pass the city inspection (verifying to yourself and the city that its installed properly), every time you want to "play" with it, you COULD just disconnect yourself from the grid entirely.... in that case you are not pushing anything out to the grid, and you get to see how the system works off grid. If I were in your specific shoes, especially since we are all home, I would probably do this. I would wait for city inspection, then, the next morning, if it was sunny, I would run the system to get the powerwalls to 80 percent or so, then throw the main breaker and turn off the grid, and bask in the glory of my new roof and powerwalls.
I would just make sure I did not run the system for any appreciable length of time while connected to the grid. I am sure "testing" is allowed, so 20-30 Minutes every few days would probably be ok.
Be prepared for a couple months till official PTO though. Good luck!
woferry
Member
Inspection was the bigger hurdle for me, because San Jose takes 2 weeks to schedule a visit. So it was 2 weeks from completion until the first inspector showed, and there was one issue flagged that Tesla couldn't fix on-site, so it was another 2 weeks until the second (passing) inspection. At least at the time, PG&E claimed <30 days from submission to PTO, and mine was probably about 3 weeks. Many folks said they received an email from PG&E when they started processing the PTO, I didn't get anything, so after ~2 weeks of silence (and checking with Tesla who assured me they had submitted everything the day after I made final payment), I called PG&E's solar number, and reached a very helpful guy who confirmed they had received everything when Tesla said, and that my job was really close to being approved. Then a few days later I got the email from PG&E, flipped the switches (for all of 2 hours, before I had to hop on a plane to the east coast for a family funeral, so it was another week before things got switched-on for good).
Thanks for the info on PG&E having a solar number. I will check with them to see the PTO status after city inspects and we pay bill.
BTW, did PG&E come out to your house to do a physical inspection or change meter?
woferry
Member
Nope. My gate is locked and they never asked for access. I already had a SmartMeter, and it was obvious that it supported bi-directional flow as it had already showed a tiny bit of production when Tesla did their inverter testing & Gateway commissioning (I monitor my meter with a Rainforest Eagle, so I noticed the blips on those days). So I think it was purely a paperwork review for me. The telephone pole with the transformer is also in my yard, though it can be accessed through my neighbor's yard as well and he doesn't lock his gate, so I can't say whether they climbed the pole or not.
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