January 16th, 2021 by Johnna Crider
Weddle & Sons, which is a certified solar roof installer serving Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, some areas of Missouri, Iowa, and Oklahoma, has shared how they installed a Tesla Solar Roof in a single day in a new video on YouTube. They traveled to Loveland, Colorado, to install a 30 square foot roof with a 12 kW PV system. Note, though: they started by tearing off the original roof and the underlayment a week prior — to facilitate the required mid-roof inspection.
The crew consisted of 8 installers on the roof and 3 ground support for the project. They also had visitors onsite throughout the day to observe the progress. Although, due to privacy, the company didn’t share the price of this Tesla Solar Roof installation, they do have a pricing estimate on their website for someone wanting one.
A quick glance at their pricing calculator shows that for a roof size of 30 square feet with a system size of 12 kW, a Tesla Solar Roof starts at $36,300 before any incentives. It’s not known whether or not this came with a Powerwall, so I left that out. Although that’s just an estimate, it should be noted that complexity factors such as steepness, dormers, a higher number of facets, irregularly shaped facets, and obstructions such as skylights could affect the price.
Weddle & Sons are certified by Tesla to install its Solar Roof system. The company even traveled to Tesla’s facility in California for hands-on experience with its Solar Roof and is the only certified installer in the Midwest.
Solar 2021 Predictions
Wind and solar could make up 70% of the new U.S generation in 2021 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Battery storage capacity is also set to quadruple over the next year.
The EIA also noted that its latest inventory of electricity generators, developers, and power plant owners are planning for 39.7 gigawatts of new electricity generating capacity to start commercial operation in 2021. Solar will make up the largest share of this new capacity at 39%. Wind is next at 31%, and 3% will come from the new nuclear reactor at the Vogtle power plant in Georgia — assuming it comes online.
The EIA expects that the capacity of utility-scale battery storage will “more than quadruple.” 4.3 gigawatts of battery power capacity additions are planned to come online by the end of 2021. Since battery storage systems are often paired with renewable energy sources, the EIA noted that the rapid growth of renewables such as solar is a major contributor toward the expansion of battery capacity.
The world’s largest solar-powered battery (409 megawatt/900 megawatt-hour) is being built at the Manatee Solar Energy Center in Florida and should be operating by late 2021. It’s a safe bet that 2021 will be the year for solar and renewables.
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Selling Teslas in 2012 vs. 2021
About the Author
Johnna Crider is a Baton Rouge artist, gem and mineral collector, member of the International Gem Society, and a Tesla shareholder who believes in Elon Musk and Tesla. Elon Musk advised her in 2018 to “Believe in Good.” Tesla is one of many good things to believe in. You can find Johnna on Twitter at all hours of the day & night.