dho112
Member
I have no explanation. I guess I’m the flyer in the good direction. Seriously though, I placed the Solar order (9.6 Kw Panels, Powerwall+) on December 22nd, Immediately got messages from Tesla saying what to expect with stuff to read and accept, 3 days later I got a diagram of my roof from them showing how the 24 panels would be installed, I made mods to that drawing rerranging a few panels to make it look more clean and sent that off, the next day I had a revised drawing showing my changes with another set of things to sign because I made changes. Feb 12th a Tesla inspector cane to check my roof and electricals in person (super nice guy!) Tesla had sent me a heads up in email and on the app a week before.Your experience sounds like the opposite of nearly every recent posts here from California...
Almost everything I've seen lately is pushed back installs for 6+ months due to supply issues, no PTO for 6+ months, can't make any changes if you aren't cookie cutter for Tesla Solar, etc. I think Tesla also only uses string inverters now.
(Above was all reasons I didn't pick Tesla after starting my research here last year).
Either you were very lucky or they are better now, but I don't think I've read of many cases like yours within the past 6 months so it's almost surprising (unless your install was years ago).
More docs 2 days later saying permits had been sent to my city building inspector and PG&E.
A week after that another round of messages saying everything was approved and to set date for install (3 day window) I picked March 15th
A week before March 15th barrage of messages with instructions on how to prepare (Clear area near panel, prepare for power being off all day etc)
Mar 15th install team arrives right in time one crew installs powerwall while other team installs panels. Start time 9:00am finish time 12:45pm
Talk to electrician member of installer team (Everyone else left) till 1:30pm while he is testing and waiting for powerwall update and connection to complete.
1:45pm playing with the app
March 18 get messages saying PTO application being submitted, Tesla pays the $145 filing fee and I just have to e-sign docs for PG&E.
March 22nd messages that PTO Application successfully submitted.
April 5th messages from PG&E that PTO accepted and meter will now accept power from my solar.
30 seconds later checked my app and see excess solar power (A large percentage of it) going to grid. 7.7kW production, .5kW to powering house, 7.2kW going to grid.
Plug in my car 7.7kW production, 6.5kW to house, 1.2kW to grid
Rest of afternoon with big smile
I wish it could be this way for everyone! Really, my experience was stellar. And when I talked to the installers they said they all pretty much go like mine. Every now and then though they said they get a bad roof, or a whacky electrical panel that throws a wrench into it, or dekays out if their control like from the power company or the city inspectors…