Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Bethesda Tesla store now selling solar panels (Photos)

There are so many Teslas on the road in Bethesda, it's getting hard to stand out driving one anymore. Now you may just have to be the first on your block to buy a Tesla roof. The Tesla store at Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda has just begun marketing rooftop Tesla Solar panels, which can generate power to charge your Tesla (and your home). Next up for the booming company will be the Tesla Solar Roof, which will first be available for installation in California this month, and then roll out across the country.

You probably have deep pockets if you drive a Tesla, and you'll need them again for the Tesla roof. The company doesn't say upfront how much their solar panels cost, asking you instead to request a price quote. They are more transparent about the Tesla roof, however: Tesla says one of their roofs will cost the typical Maryland resident $52,000, for which they will offer financing by late 2017.

A Tesla roof makes little sense for retirees, however, as it could take two or three decades to pay for itself and earn you money. But for a wealthy young couple buying their first home in Bethesda, Tesla estimates they could earn $8000 in power generated by the roof over 30 years. And with the Powerwall battery, you can store power for use during Pepco power outages.

Tesla will install the roof, which is quite an advance from a standard solar roof. Instead of putting panels on your roof, invisible solar panels are inside the "shingles." So you are literally buying a replacement roof, just as you would with an asphalt or slate shingles. A 30% federal tax credit will apply only to the solar portion of your Tesla roof, the company says. The Tesla shingles are more than 3 times stronger than the typical roof shingle, as an animation on the Tesla website shows.

The Tesla roof probably will be a status symbol in Bethesda as much as a way to save the planet. With solar in decline as a fad, and power companies having second thoughts about paying customers for electricity they generate with their solar hardware, you'll probably see more Model 3s on your street than Tesla roofs in the next 10 years.

8 comments:

G. Money said...

"With solar in decline as a fad..."

Solar electricity generation more than doubled in the US between 2014 and 2016, and has increased by more than a factor of twenty since 2011. Might want to try some facts with your reporting.

Robert Dyer said...

5:58: I did. That's why I wrote exactly what I did. Might want to try updating your facts regarding home solar panels:

"After jumping more than 1,000 percent since 2010, panel installations are projected to grow by only 0.3 percent in 2017, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Faced with the industry’s first major slowdown, companies are figuring out their next move."

- Bloomberg, May 2016

G. Money said...

2017 totals for Jan+Feb (most recent data available from EIA) are 20% higher than Jan+Feb 2016. And your source is over a year old.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of roofs, I was able to see a lot of the downtown Bethesda roofs from the 17th story of the new Cheval Bethesda building during my hardhat tour yesterday...you know who I didn't see there? Robert Dyer HA! Guess you weren't invited to this either Birdbrain!

Anonymous said...

Speaking of roofs, any chance we can see Dyer's Eve perform a rooftop concert for old times sake?

Anonymous said...

"With solar in decline as a fad..."

"After jumping more than 1,000 percent since 2010, panel installations are projected to grow by only 0.3 percent in 2017."

Robert Dyer the innumerate birdbrain does not understand basic numerical concepts such as rates of growth vs. raw numbers.

Also he does not appear to understand that homeowners who have previously purchased solar panels probably will not be in the market to buy them again for some time. He thinks that they all got bored with it and uninstalled the panels.

Anonymous said...

7:31AM - whaaaatt????? You don't replace yours every year?

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