Tesla Solar Roof is a ‘revolutionary product,’ says builder of massive 50 kW project

A homebuilder working on a Tesla Solar Roof project on a huge new home called the product “revolutionary.”

It looks like Tesla’s Solar Roof still has legs despite a rough start.

Tesla naysayers have been calling the solar roof a flop. There are good reasons for that – mainly the fact that Tesla is deploying the product at a volume nowhere near what it originally predicted.

When launching the solar roof, CEO Elon Musk presented it as a critical product to accelerate solar power deployment, as it opens up the market to people needing a new roof in the near future, all while delivering a compelling new product.

He said that he aimed for Tesla to produce 1,000 new solar roofs per week by the end of 2019. It was always clear that Tesla was far behind on that goal, but we didn’t know by how much until last year.

The company never released data on its solar roof installations and always included them with its solar panel retrofits, which represent the vast majority of its solar power deployment.

In 2022, Electrek obtained solar roof installations for the first time and confirmed that Tesla deployed 2.5 MW of solar roofs during the second quarter of 2022, or about 23 roofs per week – not even close to its goal.

But Tesla is still ramping up the product and signing new installers.

The company installs some solar roofs itself, but it is increasingly partnering with roofing companies and homebuilders to install the solar roof.

One of those homebuilders was featured in a new episode of The Build Show, and he shared his interesting perspective on the Tesla Solar Roof.

The video is worth a watch if you have time:

Matthew Jaynes, senior VP of residential and solar at KPost, noted that the durability and modularity of the Tesla Solar Roof are the differentiating factors in the product in the solar market:

It’s a truly revolutionary product.

Matt Risinger, the host of the show and also a builder, was impressed with the quality of the Tesla Solar Roof tiles and said that he believes they could last over 50 years.

Truitt Jenkins, superintendent at Jenkins Build Design, added:

This is very durable because it is Class 3, which is if you drop a 1.5-inch steel ball 20 feet above, it should not shatter. It also has a Class A fire rating, which is the best fire rating.

Jenkins noted that the cost of the Tesla Solar Roof for this project was about three to four times higher than the originally planned metal roof.

However, he did note that it makes financial sense when you account for the 30% federal tax credit for solar in the US and the fact that the homeowner won’t have to pay for electricity for years to come.

This particular project is impressive, with a total capacity of about 50 kW, and it will also feature 10 Tesla Powerwalls.

It is one of the biggest solar roof projects we have seen to date. It is similar in size to a beautiful project we featured on Electrek in March.

Tesla is increasingly marketing its solar roof to builders building new homes or roofs. Solar panels remain a better financial solution for homeowners with an existing roof that is not due to be replaced soon.

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