Dorchester, Massachusetts is the home of the first Tesla solar tile roof in the state and the second on the East Coast, according to Bert Bremer, the homeowner.
“We needed a new roof, anyway,” said Bremer, who along with his wife, continues to look for ways to “live lightly” in their North Dorchester home that was built in 1895. The existing asphalt shingle roof had been installed in 1991.
The couple ordered the solar roof in 2017 and waited as Tesla moved through version 2 to version 3. Bremer noted that some homes on his street had installed conventional rooftop solar panels — but they wanted a better look.
System and install details
The 7.5 kW, version 3.0 system includes two Powerwall batteries — although there is no time-of-use pricing and there hasn’t been a local power failure in a few years, according to Bremer.
The 2.5-story home on a tight lot includes a steep roof with a 12:12 pitch that required some cooperation from neighbors regarding lift equipment and staging.
The Tesla crew is finishing up the installation on the approximately 2,200 square-foot home after 12 days that included some stoppage for inclement weather. There haven’t been any permitting issues, according to the homeowner.
The homeowner noted that the solar shingles came from boxes marked, “Made in Buffalo, New York.”
The next installation stop for this particular crew is a Tesla solar roof in Salem, Massachusetts.
Recent history of Tesla solar tile
Late in 2019, Tesla CEO Elon Musk introduced version 3.0 of the solar roof tile and, with characteristic optimism, claimed that the company would ramp production to 1,000 roofs per week by December of 2019. In a conference call, Musk said, “The solar roof does not make financial sense for someone with a relatively new roof,” and the goal was to install the solar roof as quickly as traditional composition shingles — with a target of eight hours.
pv magazine has been tracking Tesla’s solar roof tile installations around the San Francisco Bay Area, and we’ve seen enough to make some observations.
- While a standard shingle roof remove-and-install typically takes eight hours over two days, the Tesla installs we’ve tracked are running ten days to two weeks and requiring a team of five to six people — with additional people brought in to install storage and electronics.
- No microinverters or optimizers are being used.
Buffalo Business First reported that Tesla’s Buffalo, New York factory resumed production in late May after pausing the solar operations in March. On March 14, Musk tweeted that “Giga New York built 4 MW of Solar Roof last week, enough for up to 1000 homes!”
We’ve reached out to Alan Cooper, Director of Global Communications and Ignoring Press Inquiries at Tesla to verify the claimed volumes. We have not yet received a response.
The actual number of Tesla roof tile installations is comfortably under 1,000, according to our estimates.
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Here’s a link to an earlier Tesla roof tile photo gallery and pv magazine’s estimate of solar tile efficiency. Here are some of the installations we’ve documented over the last six months.
Josh Pomilio, a Tesla solar glass crew lead, put up these version 3 installation photos on Instagram (since removed) taken of a home in San Jose. This installation included two Tesla battery units and three inverters, according to the home owners.
Here’s a version 3.0 roof in Cupertino, California. This installation included a Tesla battery.
photo by Eric Wesoff
Here’s a version 2.0 installation in San Jose, California
Here’s another San Jose home with a version 2.0 roof.
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Not the most efficient solar deployment but absolutely the best looking one. If it supplies more than enough energy and the battery helps with the cut’n’fill / peak-shaving then all the better. I would say that this is how roofs should now be constructed, no dicking around with the panel-over-roof ugly hack. Sure the system is still evolving rapidly as is Elon’s want [SP?].
I agree that it is not the most efficient installation. I also agree that it is the prettiest. I worry about Tesla’s commitment to this business.
I may be the odd one out, but I like the look of standard PVs. Tesla’s non solar roof PVs look great. These tiles look off to me. Glossy and I can see every out of line tile. Regardless, if more get them who don’t want standard PVs, I am a fan.
The cost of a new asfault roof plus 8,000 watts of solar placed on top in traditional panels priced in at $42,000.00 and the Tesla Glass roof priced in at $33,000.00. With the traditional panels and separate roofing contractors, if you have a leak, they will point at each other and say it’s not their problem it’s the other guys fault and you will jusy have to patch the leak yourself. With the roof being the panels and installed by the same contractor, it is no problem of knowing who to call to fix the leak or a faulty panel tile. If you are going to re-roof becuse it leaks or the old roof is looking shabby and aged, then why not have just one contractor do it all and warrentee it all? Because of the tile mounting system, when the tiles power begin to fade, in 25 years, we may have tripple layered panels and tiles at 30% by then so to compensate for the eliminaltion of net metering where you will have to give the utility 3 Kilo Watt Hours by day to buy One Kilo Watt Hour back at night.;)
I have ordered the Tesla Solar Roof here in California and am up to the point of waiting for permitting and the pre-construction walk through. Although these 55 watt. 12 volt panels are designed to be series wired to on grid inverters, using them for an off grid home could be done by hooking up 3 panels for 36 volt opperation and going to MPPT charge controlers with each 165 watt set. To meet the 2017 NEC, they had to put in a rapid panel shut down controler to de-energise the panels themselves so they already have to wire the panels in a 3 or 4 panel groups to these shut down controlers then series a group of these sets into usable voltages for the series grid tie inverter. The utility box for the controlers are placed in the attic or under the eaves outside for vaulted cielings with no attic. The junction box makes it easy at a later date to change over to off-grid and MPPT charge controlers since all the wires are right there. it also makes it easy to test the panels to find dead or low output ones just do not lose the lay out drawing.
The lack of microinverters or optimizers is surprising. I’d expect them to be integral to each tile or installable segment of tiles. Tile efficiency aside, which is fairly low, this legacy topology seems misplaced on such a modern product.
Bob, You are correct. Utilities, like PG&E, now require special monitoring of output from the on grid inverters on all new projects ofter June 12, 2020 and there are no micro inverters that do this, have rapid shut down (NEC2017) and can be placed under the panel or tile lay out. Because of the mandates of 50% of the energy distributed by utilities, like PG&E, by a certain date, they need to accuratly measure and count what is the homeowners output from their panels besides the net metering they get from current systems. If your system can be monitored on a smart phone app, the utility wants that address of your inverter(s) or the Battery system that your solar panels have charged and how much they put out when discharged. Tesla has only series wired high voltage grid tied inverters with the app monitoring designed for their legacy Solar City systems. Can you imagine monitoring 40 to 50 micro inverters separatly or having to buy a separate current monitering system combiner just for the utility to read? PG&E offeres a Power Meter with separate input terminals for your solar output that does all of this but you must pay $1,200.00 up front for that meter and they offer quicker activation of your system. (less than 3 weeks) Traditional turn on time is 4 to 12 weeks before you can get onto the grid. The meter does not work for battery systems or battery back up systems.
Have there been more Tesla v3 roof installs in Massachusetts since this was published? Does anyone know of an install on Cape Cod? Thank you.
I’m buying a home on Cape Cod with with a 30 year old roof and need to replace it. I’d love to get more information on this option? Do I do the entire roof with it or just the one facing south-east? Do the batteries get one through a power outage if power use restricted? Where do I go for more information?
Not sure the Tesla roof is a product versus a beta test
Telsa Solar Glass Roof Roof info. Call:
1 (877) 525-7652
or
1 (877) 701-7652
or
(1 (725) 223-2585
or
1(888) 518-3752
or
1(888) 756-2489
These are the differnt phone numbers that I was given on my Solar Purchase Agreement and yes, you can face the active tiles any direction and the unused space will have a like looking blank or dummy tiles and your whole roof will look the same even if you chose a smaller system as needed. The will try to cover your whole roof with them to get you a bigger Solar Tax Credid from the Goverment but that also costs more for less usable power so be smart and only get the solar roof you need.
A local contracted sub contractor roofing company, hired by Tesla, will strip the old roof and prepare the base for the new Tesla Solar Galss roof before the Tesla instalation crew arives to instasll the whole new roof. Extra Expences like Dry Rot repair and a new plywood base, for old slatted roofs, will be installed by the roofing contractor and SOME repaires or preparation on old roofs will cost extra. They tell you this and have a roof stripping and prep allotment already included in the contract price to pay the roofing contractor,for a simple, no probpem roof prep. They will do a pre-insatation walk through to see what , if any, extra work will be done and you will get a confirmed fixed price for the extra’s that the roofing contracor will do to make the roof ready for the Tesla Solar Glass roof. I am at that stage right now. If you have a flat plywood roof, you will be good to go. other roofs could cost more dpending on materials and labor needed to get it ready. Once done, the roof should out-last your home but the solat iles my eventually run down. The system they use, though, could allow just the run down active tiles be repaced with the latest more powerfull tile and the rest of the roof would not need to be touched.
Who was the installer they mention?
Tesla has their own installers and right now they are training new ones. My Tesla Glass Roof has been fully installed and now it is time for them to install the sub panel, on-grid inverters counduit and wire. Since they are training workers, here in California, from all over the country and there are a few trainees, on every new roof, along with skilled existing installers plus new roofing sub conractors doing the roof stripping, set up and repairs, it is a work in progress as Tesla Energy ramps up their mass production and installations. My roof looks great and will give me a lifetime of service plus will help pay for itself with energy bill reductions.
I signed up for a roof. Wondering when you were completely done with installation and permitting to be cleared to use your system?
Is there any way to find out when Tesla will be installing solar panels in New Hampshire. Fill out a request and got the response that I will be contacted when Tesla moves into my area. I have a one year old shingled roof so looking for panels, not solar shingles.