Solarglass Roof - V3 - any customers?

[JayClark]

i was a little surprised that the powerwall can only run a "few" breakers in the panel. so its not like you can run your whole house on it. just... the kitchen, or the lights, or my water heater.

Sounds like bad information. Depending on max house loads, you might have to add Powerwalls, but for many of us we can power all circuits. Powerwalls power my entire house, including my 150kWhr single days in the peak of summer running 3 AC units (one of which is 4.5 tons), but I had to size 4 PWs for my loads. Clearly, during those peaks I only run the "whole" house during peak hours on the PWs, but they do power everything (all circuits) for about 6 hours straight every day in the summer. If it weren't for the summer AC requirements for like 3 months of the year, I could otherwise have managed to cover all circuits with just two PWs.

 

[charlesj]

occupied structures need the 3 feet clear along any roofing edge (peak, creases, step changes). so they can smash the *sugar* out of your roof if you are on fire and are in need of assistance. im sure the rest of the fire code still applies to all structures on the property, just not the 3 feet smash walking zone.
...

Interesting but you should see our couple of motel row streets here. Panels cover roofs from gutter to ridge.
Maybe I should post a few pictures

 

[woferry]

The issues seems to be the 3 feet on each side of a ridge line required by fire codes (to cut vent holes) to be free of solar panels. If you have a lot of ridge lines and small contiguous roof spaces there many be issues. After you subtract the ridge offset space it may not leave a lot of room for the active panels in the roof. That coupled with the slightly lower yield for the solarglass roof active panel/tile versus traditional solar panel can lead to not enough power yield to make the Solarglass roof a viable option.

Also, you may want to check into the time lines for you location. Right now California seems to be the only place where Solarglass roofs are being installed.

I'm not sure the 3' rule applies for the solar tiles. It kinda makes sense when it's panels on racks that prevents them from getting to the roof, when it IS the roof it seems the same setbacks don't apply. The PV Modules in my roof get much closer than 3' to every edge (top, bottom, sides, the valley between my house roof and garage roof, etc). Of course codes vary a lot from place to place (San Jose generally seems to be one of the more conservative areas w.r.t. codes, so I've heard).

 

[jboy210]

The requirements have recently relaxed somewhat, at least in California. You can read the current requirements here: Searchable platform for building codes

It used to be 36" on either side of any hip or ridge. Now it is only horizontal ridges, and it's 18" on either side if the projected area of the solar array is not more than 33% of the roof projected area, or 36" if it the array is larger.

Cheers, Wayne

Good info. And good to point out this California. This may or may not apply to the OP in Tennessee.

 

[Sunshine Speed]

I'm in Los Angeles (LADWP) and my house has never had power outages the whole time I've been here ( 7 years). Plus I have Net Metering 2.0 in my area . I told my Solarglass advisor that I don't want any powerwalls. The grid is my battery due to net metering. Hoping to save money on the install this way. My daytime solar generation into the grid will offset my night usage of the grid.

 

[jboy210]

I'm in Los Angeles (LADWP) and my house has never had power outages the whole time I've been here ( 7 years). Plus I have Net Metering 2.0 in my area . I told my Solarglass advisor that I don't want any powerwalls. The grid is my battery due to net metering. Hoping to save money on the install this way. My daytime solar generation into the grid will offset my night usage of the grid.

Never say never on power outages. We have been in this house since the mid 90s. Never lost power for more than an hour until this year. Went since 2010 without an outage. Until this fall. Now with the PG&E PSPS we went over 2 days in one incident and over a day in another incident. Within 3 weeks of each other. No fire within 30 miles of my house and the closest big fire 70 miles away. Power on the whole time in the neighborhood behind mine. I was sitting in the dark looking at people watching TV 200 feet away!

Since we work from home this cost us a bundle. We are getting 2 Powerwalls with our installation.

 

[egaertner]

FYI I was reading the fine print on my agreement and gutters are a line item with a zero cost. The gutter line item footnote says, "Standard Gutter installation includes materials and installation from a Tesla approved sub-contractor. Custom materials or finishes can be added via contract amendment." I assume they are included but will verify with a coordinator tomorrow.

Did you learn any more about the gutters? I have the same line item in my contract but HQ told the on-site installers not to touch them.

 

[jboy210]

Did you learn any more about the gutters? I have the same line item in my contract but HQ told the on-site installers not to touch them.

We just got a call from our coordinator on this. They did add an extra charged of $2K for this. But, are doing it for free.

So that makes person doing the inspection correct (it is an added fee), and also the matches with the contract (cost for gutters is $0.00). I would not surprised to see this was an error in the original contract and future contracts will not include gutters for free.

 

[Saizzz]

Yea I also suspect this is a contract error because the installers put my old gutters aside and the PM has not yet responded to my inquiry. I sent a follow up and implied the way the contract was written, I assume they are included. Besides, the roof profile will change a bit from asphalt shingles to tiles so I can't see how well the old gutters would work.

 

[boed]

Thanks - i'm guessing I'm about a year away from starting the build but it will be in Tennessee.

 

[boed]

I'd like to suggest that people who get approved if willing would post a picture of their roof and the state they live in - not sure if that is a topic for a new thread so it would be easy to see some of the approved structures. Maybe also include roofs that were NOT approved. Just the roof - nothing more in the picture.

 

[gern]

I'd like to suggest that people who get approved if willing would post a picture of their roof and the state they live in - not sure if that is a topic for a new thread so it would be easy to see some of the approved structures. Maybe also include roofs that were NOT approved. Just the roof - nothing more in the picture.

Here’s my roof (as seen by Google’s Project Sunroof). I am having my solar glass roof and powerwalls installed this week. This is in San Jose, CA.

 

[woferry]

Wow, that's at least 3 going on in the Bay Area on the same week. Seems like things are picking up!

 

[TheThrill19]

Completed install in Los Angeles:

 

[Saizzz]

Wow, that's at least 3 going on in the Bay Area on the same week. Seems like things are picking up!

At least four - just spotted a neighbor in San Carlos on the corner of crestview and melendy getting the roof installed. It’s great to see. The industry is also taking notice. We had a guy from PV Magazine taking photos and asking my wife questions.

 

[JPP]

At least four - just spotted a neighbor in San Carlos on the corner of crestview and melendy getting the roof installed. It’s great to see. The industry is also taking notice. We had a guy from PV Magazine taking photos and asking my wife questions.

I have a colleague in Berkeley who I encouraged to move to solar, and given the PG&E PSPS needed no convincing to add Powerwalls. Tesla was sort of pushing to just install solar panels on his 10 year old roof. He chose to do the roof (SolarGlass). His old composition roof was torn off starting a couple of days ago--Thursday 1/23/2020, and the Tesla team (7 strong from the Bay Area and back East including FL) are working today Saturday. He is getting about 8-9kW and 2 PWs with most of the electrical hardware installed on the inside wall of his 2-car garage. Tesla estimates about a 2 week job. BTW FWIW Tesla does not accept a referral credit for SolarGlass, only solar panels (the demand is crazy and they don't need to offer an incentive).

He says the Tesla folks really seem professional and passionate. Very careful about safety--1 worker on the ground as a spotter/safety worker. Harnesses, etc. Brought their own PortaPotty, dump box, and using a van to transport workers (limited parking on his street). All good (....so far).

 

[charlesj]

I have a colleague in Berkeley who I encouraged to move to solar, and given the PG&E PSPS needed no convincing to add Powerwalls. Tesla was sort of pushing to just install solar panels on his 10 year old roof. He chose to do the roof (SolarGlass). His old composition roof was torn off starting a couple of days ago--Thursday 1/23/2020, and the Tesla team (7 strong from the Bay Area and back East including FL) are working today Saturday. He is getting about 8-9kW and 2 PWs with most of the electrical hardware installed on the inside wall of his 2-car garage. Tesla estimates about a 2 week job. BTW FWIW Tesla does not accept a referral credit for SolarGlass, only solar panels (the demand is crazy and they don't need to offer an incentive).

He says the Tesla folks really seem professional and passionate. Very careful about safety--1 worker on the ground as a spotter/safety worker. Harnesses, etc. Brought their own PortaPotty, dump box, and using a van to transport workers (limited parking on his street). All good (....so far).

That is great to hear. Import from Florida no less.

 

[jboy210]

That is great to hear. Import from Florida no less.

On the job training for Florida installers!

 

[apilot]

I have one on order, exciting to see progress!

Any thoughts on the commenter in this reddit thread that claims there isn't enough overlap in the tiles and water will simply leak through (hence the need for the robust underlay?). I don't know enough about roofing to have an opinion, but it does seem like there is minimal overlap and a large air gap between the tile and roof material.

 

[woferry]

The OP to that Reddit thread said there is overlap, so I believe him over someone speculating. The V2 tiles have a rubber gasket/lip at the top edge of the tiles (downward-facing), but it seems to me that V3 may not have that. But there's definitely overlap between the rows, and they also use a 'sidelap' that fills-in the side-to-side gap between tiles, and this also extends to the next row of tiles underneath.

So any water running down the roof would definitely keep going without getting under the tiles. If there's a strong enough wind to push water up a tile (no idea how much wind that would take, may be an unreasonable amount) then at least in V2 the lip would stop it, if V3 doesn't have the lip then I don't have a good answer there, other than that the underlayment itself is also a water barrier.