Anyone Have Tesla Powerwall or Solar?

[Bsbhullar]

It's really a cost question. How many Kw are the panels for? How are the electric bills?

I have 14.4KW system installed in October 2022. I paid 39K and with 30% federal rebate it came down to 26K. Overall it’s 2.7K per KW.

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[lefkonj]

I have 14.4KW system installed in October 2022. I paid 39K and with 30% federal rebate it came down to 26K. Overall it’s 2.7K per KW.

Right so you spent 26k but how much does that cut your electric bill? That is the cost benefit question you need to ask. If it takes you 20 years to earn back the 26k, or is it 10

 

[BigSkies]

I’m in the process of upgrading my solar system, but I don’t know Tesla specifically.

The only thing I’d make absolute sure of is that you have the right to buy out the lease at a reasonable price.

I have some neighbors with non-Tesla solar leases, and it’s been a nightmare for them. A few have had problems with the inverters, and the leasing company is like dealing with a much less competent version of Comcast. Calls and emails are completely unanswered, they don’t meet contractual commitments, and they do things poorly at best.

I’m a huge fan of solar, but less so of leases.

 

[salted]

The lease deals are generally not advantageous. Have em removed and install a new system. It should be pretty straightforward considering that the basic infrastructure (subpanel etc.) is all there. If I’m not mistaken you get a federal tax credit worth 30% of the install, and payback is 7-8 years. We have Tesla panels and power wall that we paid for. Tesla is a pain to get them installed, but once they are done they are great. Other quotes were all dramatically more expensive for the same basic functionality, other installers will come up with all sorts of reasons their system is better, micro-inverter bla bla bla. Generally it won’t make a difference because the systems are pretty reliable and if they fail you still have power and they are under warranty.
If you get a new setup you can probably expand your solar footprint as well, I wish we had installed more because we cover our household use… NOT including two EVs. Also appraisers differentiate leased vs owned Solar. If you have owned solar the value of the solar system is added to your homes value.

 

[Kirk]

Yes I have 2 power walls, one that is brand new the other 2 years old. 16 kw. I paid outright for them. Prepper kind of idea. All batteries degrade over time. Are Tesla batteries degrading in their cars as fast as some are mentioning on this thread about Powerwalls? No signs of degradation with the one that is 2 yrs old.

Maybe I’m drinking the cool aid.

My solar system is a combo of standard 400 watt panels x 40 added 6, 425 watt panels this summer and now have 2 batteries. System works very well. Local energy company buys back extra energy at 50 cents on the dollar. My batteries discharges to 50% every night.

 

[JMACCA]

Yes I have 2 power walls, one that is brand new the other 2 years old. 16 kw. I paid outright for them. Prepper kind of idea. All batteries degrade over time. Are Tesla batteries degrading in their cars as fast as some are mentioning on this thread about Powerwalls? No signs of degradation with the one that is 2 yrs old.

Maybe I’m drinking the cool aid.

My solar system is a combo of standard 400 watt panels x 40 added 6, 425 watt panels this summer and now have 2 batteries. System works very well. Local energy company buys back extra energy at 50 cents on the dollar. My batteries discharges to 50% every night.

In southern California SoCalEdison buys my electricity at $0.02/ kWh and sells it back to me at $.35 -.$52/ kWh.......I have to charge my car and use as much electricity as possible from 10am-1400 during peak solar panel production to get most out of having the panels.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

Check to see if Tesla actually still has SERVICE in your area. I'm in Chicagoland and they abandoned the area around 2022.
We had ours installed in 2020 and they messed up and cause a roof leak. I made a call, and someone showed up pretty quickly. I ended up having to fight them to fix the roof, they tried blaming old roofing (which they approved 6 months earlier). Eventually it got fixed by them.
We had another leak in 2023 and it took a few weeks until a crew came out, they had to replace 1/2 of our roof, then they had NOBODY to reinstall the panels, they sat on the ground from Sept 2023 until Feb 2024.
Then the inverter went out in June 2024, first available appointment was October 10, they ended up coming out at the end of September to just triage. We missed a huge portion of our production for the year. The inverter still needs to be replaced, every request for them to do the install comes back with "we need to find someone to schedule since we have nobody in your area". I fully expect to not be up and running until next year.
YMMV, but support has been horrendous, you basically have to put in a Better Business Bureau complaint to get anything done.

I would contact your state's attorney general to get this resolved. Tesla sold you a product that is supposed to be under warranty. They can't absolve themselves of their responsibility. They owe you for all the lost production for the entire time you have been without generation.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

In southern California SoCalEdison buys my electricity at $0.02/ kWh and sells it back to me at $.35 -.$52/ kWh.......I have to charge my car and use as much electricity as possible from 10am-1400 during peak solar panel production to get most out of having the panels.

Are you on NEM 2.0 or 3.0? NEM 2.0 true-up is every 12 months. NEM 3.0 was definitely a FU to anyone that wants solar. The solar industry is crashing in California due to these new rules that only benefit the Power companies.

 

[Tim-in-CA]

We added Tesla Powerwalls (qty 2) to our solar installation this year. Solar worked great before those were installed. Unfortunately, one of the two batteries failed ("bricked" is what our installer said) and now our system is not fully operational. We've been waiting weeks for a replacement battery and months for the overall system to be operational (it took the installer a couple months to work with Tesla to identify that the battery failed and to put in a warranty claim)...

Similar thing happened to me last summer. One of my two powerwalls crapped out and I was noticing odd storage behavior for a month and Tesla wouldn't do anything about it until the PW failed. Of course, I lost the benefit of the battery during the highest usage time of the year. For me it took them about 2 months to come back and replace. The kicker was when they replaced the battery they dented and scratched the sh*t out of the new one! The outer case is not replaceable and I made them come back and install a new one (which took another month).

 

[JMACCA]

Are you on NEM 2.0 or 3.0? NEM 2.0 true-up is every 12 months. NEM 3.0 was definitely a FU to anyone that wants solar. The solar industry is crashing in California due to these new rules that only benefit the Power companies.

I am on NEM 2.0 with 12 month true up....mistakenly was charging my car at night rather than 10-1400....ended up with a $1500 true up which is not horrible over 12 most but in the years prior to my Rivian I received $400-$500 credit back at the end of 12 most....now I am using as much power from 10-1400 as I can rather than give it to SCE for $.02 per Kwh.

 

[HyperionMark]

Yes I have 2 power walls, one that is brand new the other 2 years old. 16 kw. I paid outright for them. Prepper kind of idea. All batteries degrade over time. Are Tesla batteries degrading in their cars as fast as some are mentioning on this thread about Powerwalls? No signs of degradation with the one that is 2 yrs old.

Maybe I’m drinking the cool aid.

My solar system is a combo of standard 400 watt panels x 40 added 6, 425 watt panels this summer and now have 2 batteries. System works very well. Local energy company buys back extra energy at 50 cents on the dollar. My batteries discharges to 50% every night.

Do you mean they buy it back at half of whatever you pay? If so, that's not terrible.
I pay like 9 cents here and they pay me back at around 3 cents.

 

[bfilippo]

Just installed a 65kw system with two Tesla inverters. Will get Powerwall at some point, but couldn't dish out the extra $17k right now. Installed mid-October, so I haven't yet had an entire billing cycle with charging our 2 EV's to observe.

 

[HyperionMark]

Just installed a 65kw system with two Tesla inverters. Will get Powerwall at some point, but couldn't dish out the extra $17k right now. Installed mid-October, so I haven't yet had an entire billing cycle with charging our 2 EV's to observe.

OMG, that's a huge system! Love it! Literally 10x the size of ours. We have 2 EVs as well.

 

[bfilippo]

OMG, that's a huge system! Love it! Literally 10x the size of ours. We have 2 EVs as well.

I just really wanted 100% coverage, and electricity is getting more and more expensive here in Maine.

 

[HyperionMark]

I just really wanted 100% coverage, and electricity is getting more and more expensive here in Maine.

Good call. It's very rare for someone to say they regret having more panels. What are you paid for energy sent to the grid?

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