I live in Honolulu and have Solar for a two person family. I don’t have a b/u battery system and my electric bill is still $ 250-300/mouth. The electric company is trying to pay off its 2 billion dollar law suit through its customers! Speaking of power outages, the company has decided to punish it customers with regular scheduled power outages!
I live in PA and we bank 700-1000kwh per month 9 months out of the year. My fixed interconnection fee is $15.43 cents per month. This is covered by my SREC payments. So technically, I make money 9 months out of the year. The other 3 months, I "spend" the banked kWh. My annual savings in electric bills is just shy of $3k a year. On top of that, the $15.6k in Fed Tax credits more than covered our tax requirements for the year so we took full advantage of that and re-invested the refund we ended up with after filing.
I got Tesla batterys, , but I do not own a cell phone, so really have no idea what batterys are doing, I know their working, since we had power outage on street, but not me, love that
I think it’s remarkable that the Tesla battery solution works well for you and requires nothing from you. That’s really cool tbh so I’m glad to read your comment. Not to be rude or obvious but almost any tablet can run the Tesla app. Also a used or refurbished phone or tablet can do the job. (As far as that particular setup being bad when the power goes out… well, that’s why you have the battery backup right?) Anyway, I’m jealous. I want a Tesla Powerwall so much.
Thanks Joe. Another great video! I've been in the solar industry for over 29 years now, and have followed the innovations as well as the bankruptcies :( After selling my solar installation company in 2008, I've been offering consulting and solar certification training to others. I rely on your videos to help me stay up to date with industry changes and trends since I'm not an active designer/installer anymore. Thank you for the work you do and the difference you make.
Hey Joe, enjoyed the video! Great point about the "$0 bill". In Arizona, we regularly can achieve $0 statements (especially in the late spring months) from exporting enough energy credit back to the utility. It has become more and more challenging to do with current utility export rates. The fixed charges and additional fees still exist. However, the export credit can exceed these costs, creating a $0 statement.
I do about 30-40 sales a month in solar and everyone is 45+ no one young buying solar because they don't own nothing but a cellphone and clothes and cars financed. The internet is about 5% true reality is off the internet.
So this review from Marques is from 2022 since he installed the roof and system in 2021 with commissioning in 2022? There are no newer reviews by anybody for a solar roof? Also would be nice to have a review of solar roof with powerwall 3. Regarding netmetering- CA stopped that as I understand it. Wonder what Marques is thinking now. Wonder if he will be upgrading to Powerwall 3 by either replacing the ones he has or adding more storage given his huge usage. Can imagine how big his house is and how many vehicles he has. Regarding utility bills- even if you have some type of reimbursement from your utility, just your usage alone combined with generation may not equate with zero amount owed each month. My utility has nearly $50/mo in various charges that also need to be offset by solar generation. I truly hate that. Cuts into the amount I would get as a credit each month/year and impacts my payback period by actually extending it a few years. Also my utility pays me less per kWh than they charge me which irritates me as well. It's less than 1/2 the lowest rate they charge me, but they also have tier pricing and it's 1/4 the highest rate they charge me at peak times. Very irritating.
Thanks for this - I had watched his video when it came out because I have been interested in a solar tile roof replacement option - assuming I stay in our current house to the point where we need our roof replaced. And I really like you providing commentary on what is being said in these - really helps substantiate (or not) the claims that are being made in these. Thanks again.
Hi Joe, I’ve been a diehard Solaredge fan for years now and I finally had a system installed less than a year ago with the solar edge energy hub inverter and it went out on me about a two weeks ago. Do you think you could do a video explaining the whole process and timeline it takes to, get a new inverter and why the process takes so long? Additionally, why do they have such a high malfunction rate mine just stop receiving the communication from the power optimizers and shut down from there. I reached out to Solaredge and they are using a third-party to come install my new inverter per the warranty. But I do find it interesting that it died in less than a year into the installation. As you know, this is peak solar right now and every day that it’s down, I’m losing net metering credits for the winter. They would be great if you could find a way to discuss this and bring solar edge to explain why it’s this way.?
Regarding the Tesla app and needing the internet to operate the powerwall, you don't really. The app allows you to see what is happening, set how much to use for self-powered and how much to keep in reserve for an outage, and set time based usage. However, in a power outage none of this matters, the powerwall defaults back to being a grid forming battery which charges and discharges as required while using 100% of it's capacity for this purpose. If the internet also goes down and you really want to know how much charge is left, you can simple connect your phone to it's wi-fi and using the gateway IP address and password, you can get basic information on how it's operating.
I have the solar panels and Tesla battery and pay an average monthly charge of 15 dollars a month for just using the grid but paying 175 a month for the system and I never even noticed that the power outages that happen alot in my area
S0 - he uses 54,380 kwh a year and has a 29.313kw system and he says that it ZEROED out his bill??? That's 1,855 kwh a year per KW of system size??? Notice, that this Solar Surge video said NOTHING about that preposterous claim. This whole roof is now an inferior "Solar Power System" with less than best degradation, almost ZERO active use track record, and less warranty than almost ANY other Solar Power System OR Roof. The wattage of these roof tiles per sq meter or foot is far less than the highest-rated solar power modules. Clueless guy- says he would have WAITED 6 months more- to get the extra tax credit- no clue that he waited FIRST to lose it!!! And almost lost it completely, but for, the suprise of the IRA that brought it back and restored it to 30%, where it was since 2006!!! If he had waited, and thus had no IRA, he'd have lost it all! If he knew what was REALLY going on with Solar Power (Which you heard not one single word about on this video that sup[posedly provides solid "solar" advice) - he'd have put exactly ZERO dollars into his solar power system, had a new 50-year roof of some kind installed- one that had 50 or 100 years of product and installation performance data behind it. I won't tell you here what that means financially, but suffice to say this guy would be pretty embarrassed about his "i'm ok" video (and you can note that you heard NOTHING about it here on this video along with the other things I pointed out.) Solar Power Sales Orgs and companies, etc- you can retain me to teach you and your sales team and marketing people what's REALLY going on with Solar Power. You only pay me on the deals that sell and proceed to installation. Get "My 2-Cents For Your 2-Cents" today. Just let me know if you'd like to discuss it.
My thoughts exactly. Those solar tiles are 16% efficient compared to 21% for traditional panels. A 29kw system in NJ, would at best be producing 30,000kwh per year, not 54,000 kwh. No one who isn't in the industry would pickup on that though.
@@kurtbradshaw5230 but this "video" guru claims to be an expert on what really matters. yet he says NOTHING about it- that's just such a head-scratcher that my head is bleeding. But that's the very least of the sheer stupidity of this video and this homeowner's misguided, self-delusional, financially devastatring thought processes.
I love it when the experts don't understand the terms. Not that it matters, but "Net Metering" does not mean 1 for 1. It means metering on a Net-Basis at the end of each month or billing cycle. And Netting out the bill. Meaning subtracting credits from debits and giving you your net metering result. It says NOTHING about the rate of exchange on credits. It has been 1 to 1 in many utility jurisdictions for about 20 years, but in others it ranges from .75 to .35 to 1 - meaning the retail rate you pay for kwh from the utility is credited against at a wholesale rate per kwh when you supply the utility with kwh's from your excess solar power.
Joe, I loved your video! One thing I would like to know is how a Tesla solar roof is wired? Do they use micro inverters? Are they wired in parallel or in series? We chose a set up that would keep our system running if one of the panels went down and I believe that was called a micro inverter that was used. If Tesla wires their panels such that a whole group panels go off-line if there is a problem with one then perhaps that might be a dealbreaker.
Regarding the monthly fee ($5.75), that’s the cost the utility charges to provide you with electric power grid backup. If you don’t want grid backup, then have them terminate your electric service and you don’t pay that fee. When you look at it that monthly fee that way, it’s pretty cheap.
Yes, BUT covering winter electricity, including with a storm tends, to be WAY more expensive than simply paying whatever non-bypass able charges. Disconnecting from grid tends to for more costly, bad ROI
Let me tell you about the grid. I made the mistake of going with Micro Inverters. I'm not a fan of making the power companies rich & to me it's a monopoly it's not right. Go with a Inverter & batteries, up the panel Kw & battery bank. Remove all the circuits out of the main service panel & install them on your new sub panel & Inverter plus battery bank. Leave one micro inverter & 2 panels in your main service panel to feed one circuit your least ampere draw circuit & be done with them. You will still be charged but it peanuts 30 / 40 bucks
With all of these videos that discuss the ROI period for solar with storage systems against NEM3, the calculation is usually simple where the to monthly bills (plus x% of yearly utility companies bill increase) is simply deducted from the overall solar with storage system's INITIAL cost (minus the federal tax credit). As we know, the batteries are a BIG portion of the overall system's cost, and the batteries degradation rate is much worse than the panel modules degradation rate. As an example, for Tesla PWs the degradation rate is (up to) 30% decrease after 10 years. This means that the battery ability to store excess produced energy is (cumopared to the other system components) rapidly decreasing each month. We need to factor that into the ROI period. Other than the ROI period we should also take into account that after 10-15 years owners will most likely need to replace the originally installed storage system, since it is no longer effective enough, or it is out of the (10 years for Tesla, 12 years for FranklinWH, 15 years for Enphase, etc.) warranty period and might be acting out (the battery inverter might stop working). This translates to an extra cost of new batteries + gateway + install + new permit + used batteries disposal costs. Looking at the longer 25-30 years solar system usage, this needs to be taken into account when calculating the overall ROI of the maintained system over a longer period of 25-30 years. Needing to add storage to the solar system definitely changes the ROI story. Thoughts?
Yes the batteries and added cost of roof tiles erodes the ROI. That's why I said he "indulged" in the roof tiles. There was no financial case to be made for tiles.
@@SolarSurge Agreed regarding your point on roof tiles. That said, I am interested in your thoughts regarding storage system initial and longer term "maintenance" cost and dent it does on the system's overall ROI 25-30 years NEM3 story.
Check the USVI islands they got rid of the grid access fee my bill is negative always. The local utility company which is known as WAPA is terrible and not a lot of folks are tying into the grid for their dislike of them. I turned an old iPad into a monitor system tied into the gateway itself incase internet goes down.
A lot of theQualityu COntrol (QC) for SOlar Panels has to do with how they are transported, shipped, packaged, etc prior to installation. That driveway delivery kind of looked cringe to me!
@mkbhd, the original video presenter had a mistake with the production and usage total numbers he presented in his video. That was caused by a bug that Tesla used to have in their servers or app back in 2023. These numbers were doubled. @mkbhd mentioned that in a comment in his original video - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UJeSWbR6W04.html&lc=Ugw7KdFkoA-IFdrqT3l4AaABAg - "So it appears Tesla found a bug in their app after watching this video that accidentally counted all production and usage totals as DOUBLE their actual numbers."
@@llN3M3515ll My BMW i4 averages 3.7 miles per kWh. If I drive 10k miles a year, I’m using about 2700 kWh total. Marques home is using a huge amount of power, obviously, but I wouldn’t necessarily attribute it to an EV. I know when I was getting sales pitches from solar salesman, they would tell me the biggest power users in luxury homes would often be the pool heaters, if they were electric.
what happens when the inevitable leak(s) happen? How is that fixed? What happens if/when the panels get damaged by hail, tree, tornado/high winds? Sounds like to good idea but it seems to ignore the inevitable norm home owner/roof related issues.
The solar shingles can be removed and replaced one by one. They are on a about 45" wide and 17" long and overlap 3". They have stainless steel clips on the back that hold them into the underlying shingle and fasteners at the top that connects to strand board on the roof. The connectors between shingles are standard solar wire plugs. Regarding leaks they are installed with an underlayment that sits on top of the wood strand board. This is itself waterproof. We had several storms when the installation was stopped due to Covid in 2020 with only this underlayment on the roof. There were no leaks. Should a leak occur, they can remove only the shingles in the area, fix the leak and reinstall the solar shingles. Regarding insurance, the rates barely moved. Note, previously we had a tile roof not composite. I would not be surprised if a homeowner going from composite shingle to solarroof or tiles roof saw a premium increase. I believe the solar roof is much stronger than our previous tile roof. When it was being installed, I asked the installer about the strength of the roof and whether branches, hail, etc. would damage them. He started hopping up and down on them with his 250 lb. girth and after about 5 jumps said, "nope". Having had our ceramic tiles crack under skinny contractors I said "OK". After 4+ years there is no damage.
This poor homeowner- so clueless and mostly because of "solar" information leaving him that way. He says "it would have been $8,000 more off" if he ordered today - (he doesn't know that if he ordered like a year earlier it ALSO would have been $8,000 more) - he says "that's ok! He doesn't realize that it isn't just $8,000 "off" that he lost- it is $8,000 in Federal Income Taxes that he paid on top of the purchase price! So he PAID the cash - AND he paid the taxes.
What is he talking about???? All Solar Power systems are monitored on one system and have been forever! And no, Tesla is not "the cheapest" nor is it anywhere near the best! That's a pretty bad combo if you ask me!!! Why would aI want less warranty, less guarantee, and single point of failure, and bad reviews, plus uncertain long term commitment! But more importantly, why on earth would you make this your roof??? It doesn't look cool. I mean, that's an opinion, but it looks financially stupid, and technologically stupid and aesthetically meh compared to say a Standing Seam Roof, or Slate, etc. SO that's a really bad combo - and hard to describe as "cool."
There is absolutely, no reason to pay over $100,000 for a solar w/battery for a single family house. In my entire life, I have not even come close to spending $50,000 in utilities.
You may be missing the point both of them made .. Tesla Solar roof only makes _ROI_ sense *if* already planning to replace roof soon. Otherwise, WAY better ROI on other panel approaches. As he said, he chose based on aesthetics and had to have the money to pay for that (if paying interest then, yea, bad ROI/investment)
So not true.. most aren’t even homeowners, true.. but there are those who avoided college debt, bought a house, and can see the positive ROI on a solar system purchase (depending on location… with crazy CA politics and energy prices, super easy to justify even with NEM3)
You 100% Cali yes probably the most state only for young buyers because rates are 2-4xs more their. People are crazy not to go solar or get an electric car it pays for itself.
No Joe, we will not & must not all be driving around with E.V.'s in 10 years or even 50 years! All sources of energy & vehicles have their own place including vehicles powered by gas, diesel, propane & natural gas! Other than that this was a good & informative video, thank you.
