Tesla Solar Panels Price Cut

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USCTrojanCPA said:
City of Las Vegas inspector approved the solar installation, now I'm waiting for NV Energy to come out so I can turn on the solar.

You can flip it on, you just won't have PTO yet from NV Energy, your surplus won't count towards anything, but what you generate and use still helps.
 
Tesla determined my tile roof needed plywood laid underneath, which they came back with a reasonable quote for ($10K for the whole roof). Looking forward to hopefully having installation and PGE turn-on before the end of the year.
 
OCtoSV said:
Tesla determined my tile roof needed plywood laid underneath, which they came back with a reasonable quote for ($10K for the whole roof). Looking forward to hopefully having installation and PGE turn-on before the end of the year.

Curious why you chose to do the whole roof instead of just the section that the solar panels will be installed on.  $10k sounds like a lot to me for just adding some plywood underneath the original tile.  What are the details on what needs to be done?
 
Ya you?re pretty easy going for an extra $10k to spend.  That significantly increases your break even date, probably would have said thanks, no thanks.
 
Whole roof was only $2400 more. This will also hugely benefit the temp on the 2nd floor on really hot days given no current barrier between the tiles and rafters.  They take care of all permitting, install sheathing and underlayment and provide a 5 yr warranty on the workmanship. And they handle everything - very convenient.

I am more concerned with having full backup power incl AC for what I envision to be frequent blackouts (as the CA grid gets taxed in the coming years relative to the amount of new investment being allocated and no appetite for nuclear) than I am about payback period. I don't want my wife to worry when it's 90+ and 20mph winds.


I'll post pictures of the Powerwalls once they're mounted on my garage wall.
 
You got a good deal. For only $2400 more. (not to the $10k right?)
Did you also get the power wall battery?

OCtoSV said:
Whole roof was only $2400 more. This will also hugely benefit the temp on the 2nd floor on really hot days given no current barrier between the tiles and rafters.  They take care of all permitting, install sheathing and underlayment and provide a 5 yr warranty on the workmanship. And they handle everything - very convenient.

I am more concerned with having full backup power incl AC for what I envision to be frequent blackouts (as the CA grid gets taxed in the coming years relative to the amount of new investment being allocated and no appetite for nuclear) than I am about payback period. I don't want my wife to worry when it's 90+ and 20mph winds.


I'll post pictures of the Powerwalls once they're mounted on my garage wall.
 
$10K for whole roof.

I am having 3 Powerwalls installed which is required to deliver backup power including central AC. I'll soon be off the grid and non-reliant on PGE.
 
OCtoSV said:
I'll post pictures of the Powerwalls once they're mounted on my garage wall.

Why did you opt for a garage install? I'm thinking outside is better to save precious garage space (half my garage is used as a gym and storage area), and we don't really have extreme weather here compared to other locales.
 
I think batteries should be protected even in our milder climate.

Plus thievery? I dunno... feels better to put those things inside the garage.
 
I noticed that my energy production had gone down after the 2 fires this summer.  I figured that the debris had settled on my panels causing less electricity generation.  So on Sunday I took a hose, and blasted my panels down.  On Monday and today, it looks like my solar is making 35% more electricity now.

If you think your solar is not performing well, you can try cleaning the dust off with a hose.


NOV 4 - solar generation 20.7
blasted panels with garden hose
NOV 9 - solar generation 27.7

Both sunny days with non interrupted electricity production curve.
 
I have been on TOU-Prime because my model said it made the most sense 1 year ago. They have since changed the pricing tiers and maybe TOU-4-9PM makes more sense for solar and EV drivers.

Anyone else have some analysis?
 
So I noticed that one of my Panasonic 330w solar panels is no longer really generating electricity. A month ago it started making 1/2 the amount of electricity as the panels next to it and then then a few weeks ago it is basically not generating any electricity (see the picture below). I contacted the solar company that installed my panels and they contacted Enphase and that Enphase will push through a firmware update then to check on the panel in 3-4 days to see how it's doing and report back. Anyone ever had any issue like this? 
 

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I haven't had that issue.  It looks like a whack panel, but if a firm ware update works, then that would be great.
 
zubs said:
I noticed that my energy production had gone down after the 2 fires this summer.  I figured that the debris had settled on my panels causing less electricity generation.  So on Sunday I took a hose, and blasted my panels down.  On Monday and today, it looks like my solar is making 35% more electricity now.

If you think your solar is not performing well, you can try cleaning the dust off with a hose.

I'm surprised that cleaning your panels with a hose made such a big difference.  I would have thought the heavy rain over the weekend would have accomplished the same thing.
 
I read the internet cleaning advice regarding solar panels, and they said 5% is all I was going to get for cleaning the panels.  However, I'm getting more like 33% after cleaning.  Yesterday 11.10.2020 my solar generated 27.1 with a full sunny day curve.

My solar is on a single story roof that is only slightly angled, so perhaps it collects more dust.  However it is really easy to clean.

 
Here is more production data for my solar panels with sunny days and no clouds.

AUG 27, 2019 ~ 56.6 kwh
AUG 27, 2020 ~ 47.5 kwh

SEP 14, 2019 ~ 50.8 kwh
SEP 15, 2020 ~ 29.7 kwh

OCT 15, 2019 ~ 36.1 kwh
OCT 15, 2020 ~ 24.3 kwh

NOV 16, 2019 ~ 23.3 kwh
NOV 15, 2020 ~ 24.8 kwh

So in AUG of 2020, there was some degradation to the system, and by SEP and OCT, it was pretty bad....
So I was on the internet looking for solutions, and finally I just hosed it down and it worked.  Proof is in the NOV numbers.


It is nice enphase has all the historical data easily accessible.

 
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