I was hoping I could put them on my new build, but Im a few months early unfortunately. I just read yesterday they will likely be delayed even further because Musk is focusing primarily on the new Model 3 car.

I had the Tesla sales guy call me when I inquired and was happy to hear that not every shingle was solar producing. So you have some solar and some non-solar shingles to lower cost. But then I estimated my cost for the roof to still be around 250k. That's outrageous.

250k is crazy. I think a more typical cost is $50k - which is still way higher than typical panels and basic architectural shingles. It makes most sense if you were going to do a high end roof and your best sun is in an area where panels are less than great aesthetically.

If you want solar, go with a time-tested solution. Solar shingles would presumably have a decades long warranty. Are you convinced Tesla will be around? The company doesn't make a dime of profit and burns through cash like it's going out of style.

To answer your question - who knows? What if the material they are made of deteriorates after a decade or two and only portions of the roof have to be replaced? Or you have storm damage and only a portion has to be replaced and they are no longer around? What then? If it's a good concept, there will be other companies springing up. But what if their products don't fit in some way with the Tesla product? There is no way to tell. The way I see it, there could be a significant risk you'd have to replace large portions or the entire roof before its expected life is over.

That's a risk you have to weigh. Of course, every company that has pioneered a leading edge technology has had its early customers and adopters of that technology and nay sayers. Personally, I'd rather someone else be the guinea pig for significant systems in my home such as roof, foundation, siding, etc. that are expected to last for decades. But that's me.

Well, I am now happy to report that after visiting my lot this afternoon at about 1 pm, I realize this whole solar thing is just a waste of time for me :-(. There is a big oak tree that was shading the entire area where my house will sit. It's one of the biggest trees in the area(easily has a 6' trunk), seems to be in good health, and I have no plans of taking it down. I guess I never really noticed/appreciated just how much shade the canopy of this tree produces. Its probably going to dump like 3' of leaves on my lot here in a few weeks.

So I really won't know how much sunlight my roof will get until it is there, and if I have to wait till then to decide, there probably would not be enough lead time to get the solar shingle roof.

The other thing to look into is how much control your local utilities have. Here in the Los Angeles area they have enough clout that I am not allowed to have batteries or use my solar during a power outage. Stupid rules that don't make sense in an area where the sun shines most of the time ... but it is all about money and profits for these corporations and they don't care about reducing the use of resources by the consumer.

Here in the Los Angeles area they have enough clout that I am not
allowed to have batteries or use my solar during a power outage.

Yikes. Seriously? Good grief....

(Thank you for pointing this out! Never would've thought about this kind of thing in a zillion years, and even though I'm not in Cali, it's still good info.)

We are doing them on our new build. 60% passive shingles and 40% active solar shingles. The higher percentage of passive is due to roof faces and shading.

- If you've not already put down a deposit then you've likely more than a year of wait. We did our deposit within the first 5 minutes that it was available.

- We believe ideal roof slope is a bit steeper than for standard panels. I think ours is 7° steeper. We're at 46°, normal panels would be ideal at about 41° (cheating towards longer summer days) but we'll be at 47°.

- With net metering the power company acts as a giant battery so there is actually little need for Powerwalls at this time. They cannot currently be used for backup during an outage in most parts of the US (yes, that's extremely stupid, talk to your local PUC).

- Our and others vehicle experience with Tesla has been excellent. I've no problem buying future products from them and even doing so based on promises. Like with a really good builder, stuff happens, but they always make it right. It will take a lot for us to buy any car other than Tesla in the future.

- Snow should sluff off pretty quickly though the proof is in the pudding. The combination of slope, smoothness, and darkness of the shingles combined with a NEAT coating should work.

- Though they cost a bit more than standard shingles we've calculated a payback of 6 years and from there they'll generate free electricity. They are also expected to last longer than any shingle currently available.

There should be no reason why those with solar should not be able to generate their own power during a major electric outage ... it is no different than those that have large generators wired into their panels. But with generators you are using petrol, gas or propane, so another utility is making a profit. Solar would be free to the customer.

Believe me, net metering isn't done in the customer's favor! The power company takes all the upside and profit.

We also found out when we installed solar (regular panels) we were forced to "upgrade" our meter and, lo and behold, it reads very differently than our old one and NOT in our favor! Our old meter wasn't that old, so I believe they make sure they don't save you as much as you thought you would or reduce their income/profits by too much.

So if you have panels and the powerwall battery, and there is an power outage at night and there is a charge in your powerwall, it won't automatically supply you power during the outage? Or if there is an outage in the middle of a sunny day, your electric goes out too along with everyone else without solar?

Some time ago I was in a situation where there was a big ice storm, and we lost power for like 10 days afterwards. The days after the storm we had nice weather, but trees were down everywhere. So the solar panels would be no help in a situation like this?

Exactly Mike, but it depends on where you live and the regulations. Other places might allow the solar to be set up just like a generator. In the LA area you aren't allowed to go "off grid" or be set up to temporarily go off grid during outages .

Of course if you know how to work with electricity you could certainly wire in a separate panel and a switch to run off grid during such times. I'm sure there are some who do just that.

The excuse we heard here was that they were afraid that there would be electric leakage that could cause harm to any linemen working on the outages. If that was the case, wouldn't we have large quantities of linemen being electrocuted in hurricane areas where a high number of homes have generators, many of which are set up to start automatically when the power fails?

There are plenty who don't want solar power to improve and grow!

"Believe me, net metering isn't done in the customer's favor! The power company takes all the upside and profit."

Net metering is exactly what it says - Net. Under net metering the power company pays you the exact same amount for whatever you put in to the grid as they charge for what you use. So, at the end of the month it Nets out so that you only pay for the Net amount of electricity you use above your total generation.

"We also found out when we installed solar (regular panels) we were forced to "upgrade" our meter and, lo and behold, it reads very differently than our old one and NOT in our favor! Our old meter wasn't that old, so I believe they make sure they don't save you as much as you thought you would or reduce their income/profits by too much."

Meters are manufactured and calibrated by separate companies and these same companies also do random checks of their installed meters to assure accuracy. There have been instances of meters producing inaccurate results, in both parties favor. If you believe your meter is not reading correctly you can rent a meter to stick on your line inside your home for a couple of periods to be certain.

Net metering as a concept is simple but the details make a difference in execution.

In mostly favorable CA, you generate and sell peak rate and often use at off peak. So at times you might get $.30 a kwh credit and use at $.10. Or they can just do it by KWH. I am in NC and might generate 500 peak KWH in a month and use 300. So I get a credit to cover some off peak. But then it is just 1 KWH per 1 KWH. Then in some areas, the extra you generate just gives you wholesale rates and then you pay retail. So there is a huge difference in what "Net" means. In some areas, an extra generated KWH is $.30 and in some areas it is $.04.

In my state, I have to pay for Peak KWH usage in a month to get net metering. This charge is more than my actual usage 6 months out of the year. So it is Net with an added cost. I should note that this can be gamed pretty well and my panels almost broke even in the 4.5 years we had them.

One thing I would mention, solar installers often over promise. Assumptions about payback are difficult. Net metering deals can be changed any time and they are unlikely to be in your favor.

I am in the same boat - hard to tell shading before the house is built. We have a huge Elm and it looks ok but I would not put money on it surviving another 5 years. It is just over the property line in the back. That is a new house and we will damage roots also.

The roof is a risk for sure. The other issue is that panels are getting cheaper and more efficient over time. It is still always better to avoid using a KWH rather than generating one so during the build, always remember that.

Good points. Especially about some (many?) solar companies over promising.

It is possible to get a fairly good idea about solar coverage. An iPhone app called 'Timber' gives fairly accurate measurements of tree heights. With that, site, and architectural plans you can do some fairly good modeling.

For our detached garage that is oriented specifically for solar and will have Tesla shingles there are a bunch of trees on our southern neighbor's side of the property line. After some modeling we determined that a couple of extra feet of roof height made a significant difference and importantly the difference between a system that wasn't viable and one that is. We are building in a fairly heavily wooded area among existing houses and didn't want to loose our own trees nor ask neighbors if they'd remove theirs. It'll be interesting to see how accurate the modeling is after the system has run for a year.

One unknown about the Tesla shingles is how well they will produce at significant angles. E.G., when the sun is at its highest or lowest or early morning or late evening. The louvres that create the shingle appearance from the ground are made by 3M and are kind of a micro-eggcrate. These could block a significant amount of sunlight. It is also possible that they will actually increase production from edge angles by bouncing more light on to the cells but I've so far not been able to learn anything.

Negative changes to the net metering plan have been a concern for us as well. That is when we'd start adding Powerwall's or similar battery systems. The battery's will work well during much of the year to allow us to use excess from the day during the night and for maybe 6-9 months each year we'd be grid independent (so zero costs for electricity). That includes charging our cars.

For a bit of summer we'll generate more than we need and for some of winter we'll likely need some grid power. I'd guess we're many many years off from batteries being inexpensive enough and high enough density that we'd store excess from long summer days to use during winter.

BTW, a net metering plan is just that - net. To be considered net metering the plan must either pay the prevailing rate for any excess sold to the grid or it must net out on kWh at the end of each billing period. The sticky on the latter is that some must net on each TOU period during the billing period and some are allowed to do an aggregate net and then charge for net usage based on total percentage used during each TOU period.

There was a case about a year or so ago where a utility was saying that they had net metering but it did not meet the above qualifications and so they were forced to change it. IIRC it was the Iowa PUC.

(Dis)Qualifiying statement - I work for a utility, tho in transmission, not distribution.

chispa - most people with generators have an isolation switch that they activate during an emergency, separating them from the grid, so yes, the workers would be protected (that is a valid concern).

Operation of a electrical grid is challenging at best. You can't control where the power goes, as it takes the easiest path. If too much power flows onto the wrong line, or too little, you can get overloaded lines (which national legislation often requires them to be shut down if it occurs for longer than X hours), or brownouts where people get rolling outages.

There are also 'induced' voltage that occurs when an energized line is adjacent to an unenergized one, which can also pose hazards for crews.

Hey, I'm just a user of solar that has realized that current regulations are not in favor of the technology or the customers. I just bring up these points for others to consider and research as they look into using solar. It isn't all puppies and unicorns!

Just look at how much Tesla shook up the car dealership sales model and the fight they got from that industry and its unions. The utilities don't want us off the grid, so there certainly is a big conflict of interest.

I love the whole concept of solar shingles, and I'd certainly want to do them.... in about 12-15 years when all the major kinks of anything new are worked out.

For now, I'm putting up solar panels. Technology is improving on these, too.

I'd love to hear if anyone talks to someone who actually *has* them. They'd be great for us if they were a realistic option - our house is being designed with a south-facing shed roof pitched to maximize solar exposure if we add solar panels during construction or after. (We had traditional solar panels on our current house). The tiles would be a very good stylistic fit for our house, and construction won't start until next spring, so we could conceivable get them in time. That said, right now they just seem too good to be true. If glass tiles really are such an amazing roof material, why aren't they used more often? The Tesla "blanks" should be pretty competitive to other high-end roof materials cost-wise, right? So why aren't they used?

People on the bleeding edge...bleed. No thanks! :)

I wouldn't do the sheathing system I'm using if I had another viable option!