While out walking this afternoon I came across an ongoing Tesla Solar Roof in the neighborhood. Last week, the old roof had been taken off the house and an under covering which was branded Tesla had been installed so I kinda guessed that the Tesla Solar roofing was the next step.
True to fashion, a large work party, with truck and a sign advertising that it was a Tesla install appeared this AM. This afternoon I checked on their progress and the the panel installs have begun.
The individual tiles seemed to be delivered in palleted boxes and one is show below.
The picture I believe is showing 4 panels with the black triangular piece being the attachment point to the roof. I will have to investigate more it seems like the panels have significant space underneath them and they must be sturdy as the installer seem to be walking on them (with soft shoes) in the above picture.
Once the dust has settled I will speak with the homeowner to get some more information on the size of the install. I did a quick search and entering the Telsa Solar roof site and getting a price/recommendation it the following were some recommendations.
| Size | Roof cost | power walls | price after incentives etc |
| 4.1KW | $31166 | 1 for 7770 | $36,748, $31166 after incentive |
| 10.2KW | $36867 | 3 for $17390 | $45,552, $38867 after incentive |
All in all, its looks like a pretty expensive setup, where there is marginal price difference between the 4.1KW panel setup and 10.2KW setup. Checking on Amazon, Renogy 30pcs 320W Monocrystalline Solar Panels would set you back $9700 which is close enough to 10KW of panels, so yes there is a lot of wiring, framing, installation and permitting costs but is it $20K? But its Tesla so it must be good for you…… I assume that Tesla will get the unit costs of the solar panels down with mass adoption.