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Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

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Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#131

Post by stephen_g »

xnx wrote: post #74

Aside from power-independence, does solar on residential roofs ever make sense? For all the complexity of doing a few houses, you could do an entire parking lot (or empty land) and power the whole neighborhood.

Yeah if you can do it cheap enough. Here in Australia a standard 6.6 kW system (but with a 5kW inverter, maximum most utilities let you export with single phase) costs around $US6000 before subsidies, but around $4500 after. The systems are all basically exactly the same components, and these installers can probably do two houses a day with a stock standard system.

I have a system this size and it's fairly rare for me to make less over the day than I use (we have pretty sunny winters where I live and at -27 degrees latitude am not super far from the equator). In summer I tend to produce at least twice as much energy than the house draws.

The economics have skewed a bit as export tariffs have dropped (due to there being so much solar) but batteries have become so cheap and are now subsidised quite a bit too that most people aren't getting just solar systems anymore but now are doing solar+battery.

It would probably technically be a bit more efficient to do larger neighbourhood arrays and batteries, but if they're cheap enough it works fine to do individual homes.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#132

Post by econ »

Normal roof tiles are just as ugly as solar panels. They should simply make panels in all sizes so that they cover the roof properly. You probably need only a few custom size ones.

I forget who but it reminds me of electric cars with speakers to restore the engine noise. There is nothing beautiful about noise.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#133

Post by Marsymars »

t1234s wrote: post #113
t1234s wrote: post #112

Shame.. I've seen one of these in person on a high-end home and its a very nice looking product. I assume the lifespan would be similar to a metal roof.

Regular solar panels work well but are an eyesore on a nice home.

A subjective eyesore shouldn't stop them from getting installed if they're functional.

I tend to think garages are an eyesore, and yet, basically everyone (including me) wants one included with their home.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#134

Post by rgblambda »

hdgvhicv wrote: post #120
rgblambda wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although isn't there an Irish government grant to help cover the cost of the panel + installation? That would make comparing break even times across countries quite difficult.

Certainly isn’t today. In the U.K. solar panels have about a 14 month payback, no incentives other Thant hey are currently tax free (like food. Electric from the grid has a 5% tax) On top of that there’s an inverter, and if you can’t use all the power immediately you’d need a battery too, which tends to increase the cost. The biggest cost though is installation.

I imagine the costs of purchasing and installing the panels in the UK are similar, but in Ireland there's definitely grants:

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/housing/housing-grants...

You do make a good point about VAT on electricity bills also being a factor in the break even calculation. In Ireland it's 9% and that's a temporary cost of living measure and will revert to 13.5% in 2030.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#135

Post by rpcope1 »

PowerElectronix wrote: post #106
winfredJa wrote: post #3

I’m pretty sure solar roof was introduced as a way to pump stock when Tesla was doing poor financially

Didn't they "bail out" solar roof when tesla started making money?

Yeah the Solar City debacle was just one in a long line of crazy stunts that were pulled that if the SEC had any teeth at all, should have gotten someone more than a slap on the wrist.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#136

Post by teamonkey »

awestroke wrote: post #36
lathiat wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is sort of over stated generally. In Australia where North is “optimal”, even South facing panels produce only 20-30% less and East/West about 15%. It does vary a bit by latitude but it’s not at all pointless to install them in other orientations in many places. I have not done the math to see how much of the world this extends to, but it applies to a fairly large chunk of Australia. Source: https://www.solarquo…

Australia is pretty close to the equator

In the UK, much further from the equator, some people are fitting panels on north-facing roofs. These are most effective on cloudy days.

This is mostly only cost-effective for remote properties where power cuts are common, but it works.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#137

Post by stephen_g »

DanielHB wrote: post #37
pram wrote: post #28

I don’t think it’s that good of an idea because only 50% of my roof was good for solar power (that is what faces the sun) so having the entire thing be panels is mostly a waste. I’m sure this is the case for a lot of houses. When I had panels installed, adding them on the “bad side” would only gain a few kwh.

From what I remember they also sold cheaper tiles that looked like the normal ones, but actually didn't have solar panels for this exact problem. I don't think this was much of a factor at all why this didn't work. The main issue was that normal large panels got a lot cheaper way faster than expected and custom sized ones like that end up costing too much by comparison.

[dead]

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#138

Post by venzaspa »

xnx wrote: post #87
perilunar wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly they make economic sense or people wouldn't buy them.

I wish that were true, but I suspect more people are doing it to be trendy/appear "green" than basing it on a system lifetime ROI calculation vs. alternatives.

Just looking into it for my house in the UK (read, not very sunny) and it'll pay for itself in around 6 years. Seems like a no brainer for a house I'm not planning on moving out of.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#139

Post by HDBaseT »

xnx wrote: post #74

Aside from power-independence, does solar on residential roofs ever make sense? For all the complexity of doing a few houses, you could do an entire parking lot (or empty land) and power the whole neighborhood.

Power Independence isn't even a given, most systems aren't eqipped or designed that you can turn off mains/street power to your house and still have power.

E.g. Disconnecting your energy supplier or a power outage will still result in no power usage, despite solar panels generating power.

More expensive inverters and battery systems allow this, although this is far from the norm.

Re: Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels

#140

Post by Marsymars »

evilduck wrote: post #126
xnx wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish that were true, but I suspect more people are doing it to be trendy/appear "green" than basing it on a system lifetime ROI calculation vs. alternatives.

What alternatives do you have in mind that also have an ROI for the homeowner?

I'm not the one to whom you asked the question - I can think of plenty of things, but by and large most of the home things with ROI make the most sense to invest in when you're buying a new thing anyway - e.g. solar panels when you need a new roof, EV when you need a new car, ventless dryer when you need a new dryer, heat pump when you need new heating/AC, etc.

Off the top of my head the only thing that's really doable without replacing a depreciating asset are certain kinds of insulation upgrades. (And I guess potentially ceiling fan installs.)

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