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Mar 17 2017
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Here Is What Elon Musk and the Tesla Solar Program Have Been Up To

By Tesla Solar Roof: Everything You Need to Know No Comments

Every time the name Elon Musk is thrown around, most people will think of either his connection to PayPal, SpaceX, or Tesla cars. But now Elon is throwing his hat in the ring with integrated solar rooftop products.

Tesla recently merged with Solar City and has brought them under their renewable energy umbrella. So, what exactly has Tesla’s new solar arm been up to?

Tesla Solar Roof

Mr. Musk has had his hand in solar for some time, but never through Tesla directly. Now that Tesla has it’s own vertically integrated rooftop solar business, they have been trying to claw back their eroding market share with some new products. Currently, it seems their biggest Panel images provided by Business Insidermovement has been on redesigning the appearance of the solar system itself. For years, Tesla has tried to fix this problem by creating 4 types of solar “shingles”:

  • Textured Glass
  • French Slate
  • Smooth Glass
  • Tuscan Glass

Elon relied on his newly established glass division and automobile glass techniques to help achieve the sleek look of his solar panels. It’s worth considering though that they might have a competitive advantage on the actual roof material, the efficiency of the actual photovoltaic components has yet to be determined.

Design factors aside, the economic argument is likely the hardest hurdle to overcome. Statements from Musk regarding the gross project cost for a typical residential project have only indicated that it would “cost less than a normal roof,” which is a wild statement to make. That is unless Mr. Musk is limiting his sample population to the mansions of Silicon Valley. 80% of rooftops in the U.S.A. are made of composite shingle or concrete tiles; not slate or clay tile.

However, these are just claims. This has yet to be proven and until it is, we cannot assume this cost estimate to be accurate until there is some evidence of its true cost.  Tesla claims they will be able to achieve 40 cents a watt over time on a larger scale but we’ll see. The success of the new panels depends on the actuality of said claims, consumer reception, and potential regulatory setbacks. Great thinking, but with such a long time to achieve economies of scale and widespread adoption, it’s not a clear path to victory.

Tesla’s Hawaii Project

The other big developments coming from Tesla’s solar arm is their new deployment of giant solar arrays. The focus seems to be on creating microgrids. Great press, and it’s achieving two big goals: reducing the power of large inflated utilities and providing renewable energy to Tesla Hawaii.pngremote areas.

A few days ago, Tesla flipped the on switch for a new project in Hawaii. In a partnership with Kaua’i Island Utility Cooperative, a 20-year deal was reached that will bring clean, renewable energy to the island. The project set up?

  • 50 acres of farm land
  • 55,000 solar panels
  • 272 Tesla batteries
  • Cost? 13.9 cents a kWh

The solar panels are expected to provide energy 24 hours a day. If successful, this test project could be the future of island energy since importing fossil fuels to isolated islands is extremely expensive. In the next few years, we will be able to measure the success of Tesla’s latest solar project.

Are Tesla and Elon Musk Going to Run into Problems in the Future? Maybe.

One of the largest problems Tesla may run into is in the acquisition of SolarCity. The 2.6-billion-dollar merger has raised a lot of eyebrows from Solar and Wall Street execs alike. At the time of the merger, SolarCity was hemorrhaging cash and had more complaints filed against them than any other solar installer (link to Chris’s article). Tesla stockholders have been so upset with how Musk handled the acquisition that numerous lawsuits have been filed against the company. We will see in the long run if this was a good move, but for now, there are a huge number of skeptics and for good reason.

Another problem is on the electric vehicle side. It seems the release of Tesla’s model 3 may not meet projections. This has caused such a buzz on Wall Street that numerous big time traders have put a SELL on the company’s stock. This is a red flag since the stock has been a BUY, BUY, BUY for the last couple of years.

At the end of the day, it is still Elon Musk and Tesla, but these problems are definitely something to keep track of in the next couple of months.

Will Tesla’s solar panels really change the industry? Find out here. For more solar info, visit our main blog.

Mar 09 2017
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Solar Backup Power – Will My Solar Panels Work in a Grid Blackout

By Solar Panel Installation Process No Comments

Solar photovoltaic panels are created to absorb the sun’s energy and convert it to usable AC energy in your home. You may be wondering then, do my panels work when there is a blackout? It’s a great question. The sun is up so my system is producing. Thus, I have energy, don’t I? The answer is? It depends.

All solar systems are tied into the utility grid. The benefit of this is that your system will receive net metering credit. During the day, your panels will produce energy. The excess energy will go into the utility grid and you will earn credits for this production. Your panels will not produce energy at night but you will be using the credits that you generated during the day. The downside of being connected to the grid is that if there is a blackout your solar system will not work. All grid-tied solar systems are installed with an automatic shutoff switch which turns off your solar system in a power outage. This is done as a safety precaution to protect you, your neighbors, and the utility employees from any live wires that may be touched.

Related reading: How To Choose Solar Panels for Your Home

Operating Once The Power Goes Out

There are things that can be done if you want your system to operate during a blackout. Because your solar system produces direct current (DC) energy something will need to convert it to the alternating current (AC) that is used inside homes. There are string inverters and micro-inverters that accomplish this task. The SMA SunnyBoy with Secure Power Supply (SPS) is a string inverter that does this AND features a plug-in option. This plug-in is designed to operate under blackout conditions. However, it will only work while your solar system is producing energy. The plug-in will not produce any energy at night if there is a blackout.

For more details on Micro and String inverters, check the video below.

This secure power supply will provide up to 2000W of energy. For comparison, a 60W light bulb will use 60W in an hour. Five lights would utilize 300W in an hour. The secure power supply would be able to keep the power running for five lights for six hours (300 * 6 = 1800W) under blackout conditions. This should give you a general understanding of what the secure power supply can handle.

Battery Backed Solar

But what if you want to have more security and energy capability if there is a blackout? There is a solution for that: batteries! A solar system that has batteries will work during a blackout. The reason for this is that the solar system and battery will be wired independently of the grid. There will be no danger to utility employees and your home will have usable energy.

To size the battery properly we will need to know which critical loads you’d like to have backed up. Your solar system will operate during the day and if it not being used to full capacity the excess will go into the battery to be used at night when your system is not producing. Depending on the size of the battery and the energy consumption you may be protected for the entirety of the blackout!

There is also the chance that your power lines may suffer a brownout. This happens when there is a drop in voltage in the electrical power supply. Basically, there is not enough electricity available to everyone. It can be intentional by the utility to avoid a blackout, or unintentional. A brownout may last a few moments or a few hours. Your lights may flicker, some appliance may have reduced performance, and some electronics can be damaged or destroyed due to the irregular voltage. If this is common in your area, or if you want to protect yourself from them batteries provide that level of protection. Batteries will protect the critical loads that are connected to the battery.

So, if one of your main needs to go solar is to have power during a blackout, then there are a few solutions. If you want something that will work but will not add much cost to your array, then the SMA SunnyBoy with SPS is the way to go. If you want true 24-hr backup protection and a larger capacity, then a battery will be your solution![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]