The basic components installed on the wall in a typical Tesla Solar installation. It’s better to have the option than not, but it is not likely that we will be charging a 75 kWh Tesla Model 3 off of just 27 kWh of Powerwall storage capacity if the grid is down. We were able to back up the majority of our home with the Powerwalls, including a single 40 amp EV charger for us to run off of a Powerwall just in case. We split out the highest-draw items from the list of circuit breakers in our panel - Tesla worked with our electrician (remember, it’s new construction) to map out the split of which circuit would go where. With our home being fully electric, with lots of high-power appliances, three x 50 amp EV chargers, and a future run for a hot tub in addition to our other base loads, our home simply had too many things to back up for us to cover it all with two Powerwalls. In this configuration, homeowners are able to select a few circuits that will be powered by the Powerwalls when grid power goes down. The Tesla Powerwall can be hardwired as either a whole home backup if there is enough capacity, or to backup only essential loads. It’s worth noting here that we could have achieved a higher total kilowatt-hour output with traditional panels, but the aesthetics of the Tesla Solar Roof outweighed the benefit of the additional production. They estimated it would produce 13,126 kWh year. For our home, Tesla was able to squeeze a 10.5925 kW Solar Roof into the 1,881 square feet / 175 square meters of roof surface. Tesla put together a useful sales kit that rolled all of the key facts into a single PDF document. We also have two electric vehicles, so the ability to generate all of our own power for our home and both vehicles was one of the foundational objectives of the rebuild. Why pay for it if we are never going to use it? The Powerwalls and solar provide a resilient, durable, sustainable source of energy regardless of what happens on the grid in the event of a grid failure. We did this because our new home is fully electric, with no fracked gas even piped to our house from the curb. Screenshot of our Tesla Solar Roof specs. For our roof, we opted to install the maximum number of photovoltaic tiles, which translated to 10.59 kW. The number of tiles containing photovoltaic cells in a Tesla Solar Roof can be fine tuned to meet the needs of the customer, up to the maximum capacity of the roof based on its size, shape, pitch, etc. The look and feel of a Tesla Solar Roof is the same regardless of whether the individual tiles themselves contain the photovoltaic cells or not. We first engaged with Tesla via a phone call to talk through our project, the installation, size, requirements, etc., to give Tesla an idea of where we were in the process, as well as a chance for us to ask questions of Tesla directly. This is a unique variable that does not exist in the traditional solar or traditional roofing industry. As a new build, Tesla looked at our approved plans to map out the complexity of the roof, where it made sense to install photovoltaic tiles versus glass tiles, and the like. It starts with an initial phone consultation. Purchasing a Tesla Solar Roof is very similar to the process of installing traditional solar on the roof. It’s worth noting that our roof is a Solar version 2/2.5, so the process for installing the current version of the Solar Roof version 3 will be a bit different. With this being one of the first new homes built with a Solar Roof (if not the first), I’m unpacking the process of the installation here for everyone to learn from it. Installing a Solar Roof on a new home is similar to the process for installing a roof with a bit of solar tech blended in for good measure. We unfortunately lost our home in the 2017 Thomas Fire that blazed across Southern California, but were fortunate enough to be selected as part of Tesla’s pilot program for installing the Solar Roof on a new home after putting down a $1,000 deposit on Tesla’s Solar Roof webpage. I for one love solar and have always enjoyed the look of solar panels on a roof, but I also think the Solar roof tiles are more beautiful, more functional, and more durable than most traditional roofing surfaces. The Tesla Solar Roof finally makes solar beautiful and easy to look at for folks who don’t appreciate the look of conventional solar panels. Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email.
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