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Tesla Solar Install Issues

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So I just got 42 solar panels and 2 powerwalls installed on Thursday and Friday. I am good with how the powerwall installation went but really disappointed with the solar panel install especially today as it's the first time I'm able to get up on my roof after they finished install. Does anyone have a number for install issues as my Tesla service advisor isn't the easiest to get in contact with and I was given no number if I were to have issues.

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The first problem came up when the install team had no idea about a pest abatement for them to install even though I had added a $1500 pest abatement(netting) through Tesla to go around the solar panels due to many neighbors having pigeon nesting problems. They told me the first day that it would be done at a different time as they have never done that before. Then, they told me on Friday that actually they were going to do the install but they didn't look too thrilled about it. It definitely shows that it was their first time installing this. Unfortunately, I had to go into work on Friday evening and could not be home for the last several hours of the install(they were supposed to be done early afternoon but it turns out it took a lot longer and they finished the installation closer to 6 pm).

My next issue is they didn't install the black trim on any of the sides of my panels, only the front. I have never seen a tesla install that did not have the side panel installed. I feel that having the trim on the bottom and sides makes it look clean and distinguishes tesla from other solar installs. I am thinking either the install team didn't have all the trim on their truck or were just possibly cutting corners to get the job done quicker. Has anyone not got the trim on the sides?

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The next issue is they scuffed up a couple of panels with what looks like either the paint from my rain gutters or from some metal like their ladders. They got the edge as well as in the center of the panel. Not sure if this will affect production that much but it's really disappointing to see.
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The next issue is the roof tiles. They only were able to replace 8 tiles but there is plenty more they need to replace. The ones they did replace, are not the same length as the original. They said someone should be calling me when they get more tiles in but they didn't have an ETA. I hope it's not going to be too long or there might be bigger issues as it's supposed to potential rain the latter part of next week.
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These are just the issues that I can see from my ladder. I have most of my solar panels on my upper roof that I can't reach or see very well so I am a little nervous about that. I understand that there are always things that can happen on an install but to spend this much money and get the final product to look like this is unfortunate.
 
The garage PW/solar install looks nice. I would be extra careful around the location of the Gateway2 however being it has a glass front. Our set up was different based on my wanting everything “white” (PWs, GW2 and inverter) on the same wall on the opposite side of our double car garage (required 2 inch PVC conduit to be run from the panel box a long distance compared to yours, at extra cost, but I placed our GW2 above our PWs to be more out of the way).

As for your Solar, yes they still need to come out and attach the side skirts. Possible they didn’t have enough on truck. Our pest abatement installers were new to it as well. One guy who had done it before was training the others. They had to come back and finish installing our netting during a second visit, had run out, and finish up the side panels. The side panels get installed on top of the netting BTW so what I see so far of yours looks like ours. Our guys took the netting anchors and bent them upward over the frame edge. Will attach photo to show. Should be able to click to zoom in for a better idea.

7979D31D-0A61-43D4-8648-0CC08F23065B.jpeg

Since you still have missing tiles to replace I’m sure they plan on bringing the roofing team back out. I would probably compile a checklist of items that you know needs completing and speaking to them to go over. That's what we did. During our install 40A breakers were sold out everywhere so a maintenance team had to come out when those became available. Our 3PWs and Solar install took place over a few days over a couple of weeks during the lightning fires timeframe.

Got PTO on Thursday and paid our second final payment yesterday and Tesla gave OK to turn on. Asked to have my account linked so I could also see the PWs and that appeared the next day, today, in my account. My husband decided he might like to see the solar production panel numbers so they also requested a SolarEdge account for him and said it would take a few days at least I think. But we are using solar and batteries and pretty happy.
 
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As for your Solar, yes they still need to come out and attach the side skirts. Possible they didn’t have enough on truck.

I suspect that they were not planning to come back out and install the side skirts. I can’t imagine that they would have installed the pest abatement nets if they were planning to install side skirts since they would need to remove the nets, install the skirts, and then reinstall the nets. I do agree that they should come back and take care of it.

As far as the scraped panels go, I suspect that it was paint transfer from your gutters onto the panels, rather than paint scraped off of the panels. The white paint or coating that they use on gutters tends to break down over time in the sun and will easily transfer white onto anything that touches it. It suspect that the white marks will wipe off pretty easily, but it would be nice if they had done that for you at the time of the install.

I don’t know a lot about tiled roofs, but I do know that people have said that it can be hard to find exact matches for old roofs. The tile styles and patterns and colors change and it could be that those slightly shorter tiles were the closest they could get. I also believe that the tiles are not actually the water barrier, but there is a waterproof membrane installed under the tiles. Even if it rains before they replace the rest of the tiles you shouldn’t have to worry about leaks or damage.

Obviously you want them to resolve these issues to your satisfaction before you make your final (or only, depending on when your contract was signed) payment. I’d suggest emailing your energy advisor with a list of these issues to get things documented and let them know what you expect.

Out of curiosity, do you know if your install was done by actual tesla employees or by a third party contractor? My install was done by tesla employees and I was very happy with their attention to detail and the work that they did and that certainly seems to be the general consensus from other installs that I have seen. I know they have been getting so much work that they have been hiring third party contractors to do some installs and I wonder if some of your problems were caused by a contractor that might not be as familiar with the products that tesla uses or have the same attention to detail that tesla employees usually have.
 
@BrettS, no the netting gets sandwiched between the panels and the side skirts. Look at our photo. It’s a cleaner look than screwing in to the actual skirt. Our front skirts were all screwed in like the OPs however.

I assume this was due to the placement of the panels close to the roof/gutter edge and done consistently on front edges I believe. See below.

60DF8223-839F-4E50-9A37-64749AC711CD.jpeg
 
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@BrettS, no the netting gets sandwiched between the panels and the side skirts. Look at our photo. It’s a cleaner look than screwing in to the actual skirt. Our front skirts were all screwed in like the OPs.

Oh, that’s interesting. I didn’t notice that on your pictures. I don’t have the pest abatement option, but I could have sworn that I’ve seen pictures where it was just screwed into the skirts. It does seem like they way they did it on your panels is a better option.
 
I have 600+ spare tile for my roof. The crew practically did a high five with each other when I showed them two pallets of tile and told them not to worry about too much about breaking it. In the end the only ended up using 4 tiles. My S concrete tile is still indestructible after 22 years.
 
Our house is 20 years old so the original tile is no longer manufactured. I had some spares from my underlayment job...I saw them going into my small stash which I gave them permission to do. My roofer had put the “new” but mismatched tiles where the panels were going.

Our main foreman was from Tesla...he came in a Tesla van but I don’t know about the rest. They all drove their own cars. They did okay but I don’t have a way to get on the roof safely so I have their photos, which you can request from your advisor.
 
We were given solar panel photos by the lead solar installer. Seemed to me that the team leads took photos of the job they did for Tesla's files. We have a 2-story house so not roof climbing. The second photo I posted we asked our next door neighbor to take for us from his second story :). Nice to be on good terms with your neighbors.
 
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I suspect that they were not planning to come back out and install the side skirts. I can’t imagine that they would have installed the pest abatement nets if they were planning to install side skirts since they would need to remove the nets, install the skirts, and then reinstall the nets. I do agree that they should come back and take care of it.

As far as the scraped panels go, I suspect that it was paint transfer from your gutters onto the panels, rather than paint scraped off of the panels. The white paint or coating that they use on gutters tends to break down over time in the sun and will easily transfer white onto anything that touches it. It suspect that the white marks will wipe off pretty easily, but it would be nice if t

Out of curiosity, do you know if your install was done by actual tesla employees or by a third party contractor? My install was done by tesla employees and I was very happy with their attention to detail and the work that they did and that certainly seems to be the general consensus from other installs that I have seen. I know they have been getting so much work that they have been hiring third party contractors to do some installs and I wonder if some of your problems were caused by a contractor that might not be as familiar with the products that tesla uses or have the same attention to detail that tesla employees usually have.
I suspect that they were not planning to come back out and install the side skirts. I can’t imagine that they would have installed the pest abatement nets if they were planning to install side skirts since they would need to remove the nets, install the skirts, and then reinstall the nets. I do agree that they should come back and take care of it.

As far as the scraped panels go, I suspect that it was paint transfer from your gutters onto the panels, rather than paint scraped off of the panels. The white paint or coating that they use on gutters tends to break down over time in the sun and will easily transfer white onto anything that touches it. It suspect that the white marks will wipe off pretty easily, but it would be nice if they had done that for you at the time of the install.

I don’t know a lot about tiled roofs, but I do know that people have said that it can be hard to find exact matches for old roofs. The tile styles and patterns and colors change and it could be that those slightly shorter tiles were the closest they could get. I also believe that the tiles are not actually the water barrier, but there is a waterproof membrane installed under the tiles. Even if it rains before they replace the rest of the tiles you shouldn’t have to worry about leaks or damage.

Obviously you want them to resolve these issues to your satisfaction before you make your final (or only, depending on when your contract was signed) payment. I’d suggest emailing your energy advisor with a list of these issues to get things documented and let them know what you expect.

Out of curiosity, do you know if your install was done by actual tesla employees or by a third party contractor? My install was done by tesla employees and I was very happy with their attention to detail and the work that they did and that certainly seems to be the general consensus from other installs that I have seen. I know they have been getting so much work that they have been hiring third party contractors to do some installs and I wonder if some of your problems were caused by a contractor that might not be as familiar with the products that tesla uses or have the same attention to detail that tesla employees usually have.
Thanks Brett for your input! Yes I have seen multiple posts on broken tile so I was somewhat expecting it. The roof is 12 years old and I did see them apply glue where the open part of my roof is so hopefully we should be good.

It was tesla installers but they were a team of 5 guys from Los Angeles that they brought up for a month to help with the demand for northern California. I just emailed my advisor so hopefully he will respond...I have yet to get a response by email from him but you are right....best to get it in writing.
 
The garage PW/solar install looks nice. I would be extra careful around the location of the Gateway2 however being it has a glass front. Our set up was different based on my wanting everything “white” (PWs, GW2 and inverter) on the same wall on the opposite side of our double car garage (required 2 inch PVC conduit to be run from the panel box a long distance compared to yours, at extra cost, but I placed our GW2 above our PWs to be more out of the way).

As for your Solar, yes they still need to come out and attach the side skirts. Possible they didn’t have enough on truck. Our pest abatement installers were new to it as well. One guy who had done it before was training the others. They had to come back and finish installing our netting during a second visit, had run out, and finish up the side panels. The side panels get installed on top of the netting BTW so what I see so far of yours looks like ours. Our guys took the netting anchors and bent them upward over the frame edge. Will attach photo to show. Should be able to click to zoom in for a better idea.

View attachment 604285
Since you still have missing tiles to replace I’m sure they plan on bringing the roofing team back out. I would probably compile a checklist of items that you know needs completing and speaking to them to go over. That's what we did. During our install 40A breakers were sold out everywhere so a maintenance team had to come out when those became available. Our 3PWs and Solar install took place over a few days over a couple of weeks during the lightning fires timeframe.

Got PTO on Thursday and paid our second final payment yesterday and Tesla gave OK to turn on. Asked to have my account linked so I could also see the PWs and that appeared the next day, today, in my account. My husband decided he might like to see the solar production panel numbers so they also requested a SolarEdge account for him and said it would take a few days at least I think. But we are using solar and batteries and pretty happy.
@SMAlset...you are the reason I found out about the pest abatement so thank you! Once they get the side skits and roof tiles on I will be happy. They just need to come out again!!

Congrats on PTO. How long did it take to get after install? Did you request a solar edge account from your installers or from tesla by phone? Luckily my installers gave me a layout map of the solar panels and stickers but I'm missing 2 stickers because they said it flew away .I asked my installers about getting me a solar edge account but they had no idea saying to just use the tesla app.
 
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I have 600+ spare tile for my roof. The crew practically did a high five with each other when I showed them two pallets of tile and told them not to worry about too much about breaking it. In the end the only ended up using 4 tiles. My S concrete tile is still indestructible after 22 years.
@sorka...that's a whole lot of extra tiles! Unfortunately we have only been in our house for 4 years and the previous owner didn't keep any.
 
Our house is 20 years old so the original tile is no longer manufactured. I had some spares from my underlayment job...I saw them going into my small stash which I gave them permission to do. My roofer had put the “new” but mismatched tiles where the panels were going.

Our main foreman was from Tesla...he came in a Tesla van but I don’t know about the rest. They all drove their own cars. They did okay but I don’t have a way to get on the roof safely so I have their photos, which you can request from your advisor.
@Momvivant....thank you! I just requested to get pictures. Hopefully the worst is from the pictures I took.
 
Did you request a solar edge account from your installers or from tesla by phone? Luckily my installers gave me a layout map of the solar panels and stickers but I'm missing 2 stickers because they said it flew away .I asked my installers about getting me a solar edge account but they had no idea saying to just use the tesla app.

You need to call Tesla energy support to request the SolarEdge account. The installers probably won’t have any idea what you are asking for and even if they did they wouldn’t have the ability to set up an account for you.
 
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@SMAlset...you are the reason I found out about the pest abatement so thank you! Once they get the side skits and roof tiles on I will be happy. They just need to come out again!!

Congrats on PTO. How long did it take to get after install? Did you request a solar edge account from your installers or from tesla by phone? Luckily my installers gave me a layout map of the solar panels and stickers but I'm missing 2 stickers because they said it flew away .I asked my installers about getting me a solar edge account but they had no idea saying to just use the tesla app.

Request submitted on 10/5, PG&E granted on 10/29 (they say 30 business days at most to review). They sent us email along with digital copies of our fully signed Interconnect Agreement and submitted line drawings. They copied Tesla on it.

We were part of the group that had a contract with split payments so my husband was anxious to now get them paid so contacted the person who we did payment arrangement with for our first day of install and got the final upon PTO processed (payment timing depends on contract language at time if signing and has Tesla has changed terms overtime).

He called Tesla back to inquire how we should turn on system, and getting me added to the Solar/PW app access. He asked that same person about how he could monitor the panel production and they talked about Tesla requesting a SolarEdge account on our behalf. Husband said he wanted to go ahead and have it so Tesla sent the request to SE (We did not get a panel layout despite asking at time of install). Tesla said that they have a team that monitors the solar edge accounts for issues so even though we’ll be able to see production ourselves that is still part of their service on our equipment.
 
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Request submitted on 10/5, PG&E granted on 10/29 (they say 30 business days at most to review). They sent us email along with digital copies of our fully signed Interconnect Agreement and submitted line drawings. They copied Tesla on it.

We were part of the group that had a contract with split payments so my husband was anxious to now get them paid so contacted the person who we did payment arrangement with for our first day of install and got the final upon PTO processed (payment timing depends on contract language at time if signing and has Tesla has changed terms overtime).

He called Tesla back to inquire how we should turn on system, and getting me added to the Solar/PW app access. He asked that same person about how he could monitor the panel production and they talked about Tesla requesting a SolarEdge account on our behalf. Husband said he wanted to go ahead and have it so Tesla sent the request to SE (We did not get a panel layout despite asking at time of install). Tesla said that they have a team that monitors the solar edge accounts for issues so even though we’ll be able to see production ourselves that is still part of their service on our equipment.

My nephew lives in Marin and wants to add solar panels and maybe PowerWall as backup when PG&E outages come.

Please, all of you who have dealt with Tesla Energy in that area, let us know if the local branch does good and timely work. (I wouldn't recommend the branch near me to anyone.)

Thanks in advance.
 
Utility approval before install?

First time I have used Tesla for solar but did for powerwalls. Have to other solar installs by others.

My job now is hung up because Tesla says they have to get pre approval from PG&E before they start the install. Is that the new normal now? And if so anyone have any idea how long that should take?