Feeler: How much can I sell a 4 year old 19.25kw system for?

[J.P.M.]

I hope Tesla has found a way to get rid of the heat so the solar part functions better then what DOW did.

Tesla Solar right ? uh huh. You betcha.

[Sunking]

Ok I will sweeten the deal. $800 to haul it off So far you do not have a better offer.

[SunEagle]

Tesla Solar right ? uh huh. You betcha.

Well I am intrigued with the concept. I use to work for a shingle manufacturer a long time ago and the idea of protecting the roof and generating power was cool.

Unfortunately the first few ideas for solar shingles did not pan out well. Maybe Tesla got it right but time will tell.

[J.P.M.]

I am surprised I didn't hear that his system was too big..

Well, you may not know or may not have considered this, but before a system can be called too big (or too small for that matter), it's usually necessary to know something about the loads it's displacing.

Looking back, since the OP has never provided any info on loads, I'd assume that's not a concern for him.

Besides, this thread seems to be about prices and/or the market conditions for used equipment.

[J.P.M.]

Utility approval is needed for grid-tied solar systems and they generally mandate all new equipment be used so prices on used equipment are not good. Just the <2% of the market that is off-grid are probably going to be interested.

If I ever knew that I'd forgotten it. Thank you for the upside the head w/a 2X4 reminder.

[foo1bar]

Does anybody have any idea what I could get for the system?

What's the location?

If you're local to me, I would be able to give you a receipt for a donation to a 501c3 charity for it.
I'd even be willing to do most of the work of removing it.

My church's parsonage (pastor's house) could use solar.
But as a 501c3 there is no income tax benefit that most people get when installing solar.
So the ROI analysis is ~30% worse.

You'd only get ~30% income tax benefit for your donation compared to if you sell. (And maybe essentially $0 if you use the standard deduction)
But it would be easy for you.

If I were buying them, I would only be willing to spend a few cents on the dollar compared to what you paid to install.
I'm guessing you probably spent about $60k for the system. But I'm guessing you'll have trouble finding anyone willing to spend more than $5k for it. 19kw is bigger than I'd need - but I'd probably be willing to spend $1500 for a 7kw used, but functional, system

[preilly44]

foo1bar, If you are still interested and I don't get any better offers on CL/FB I'll reach out to you late this summer.

As far as the system being too big, we have a pretty large home, guest house, pool, hot tub and two EV's so we would probably need a 25kw+ system to overgenerate and cover our electric bill all year (we have net metering).

As far as the doubters for the Tesla Solar Glass roof (that is the name of it, I didn't just call it Glass), the same people that are doubting it were probably doubting Tesla could make a fast and attractive sports car in 2008, then a seda in 2012, then an SUV 2016, then a $35k EV in 2018, etc. The version they are now selling to the public is their V3 which seems pretty solid and if not, that's what warranties are for.

Side note, I live in Maryland.

Thanks for all the replies.

[bob-n]

SunEagle wrote: "Maybe Tesla got it right but time will tell."

Get it right is not their business model. They just need to get close, fine tune, and/or replace under warranty when they get lots of complaints. Yes, it isn't pretty, but that's the path many companies took to success. I have heard anecdotally that early Tesla Model S had lots of software issues as well as many minor hardware issues. They fixed them and now have a good product and a good reputation. Go down the list of successful companies and you won't find many that hit the bullseye with their first shot.

But it could also be an unmitigated disaster.

[J.P.M.]

SunEagle wrote: "Maybe Tesla got it right but time will tell."

Get it right is not their business model. They just need to get close, fine tune, and/or replace under warranty when they get lots of complaints. Yes, it isn't pretty, but that's the path many companies took to success. I have heard anecdotally that early Tesla Model S had lots of software issues as well as many minor hardware issues. They fixed them and now have a good product and a good reputation. Go down the list of successful companies and you won't find many that hit the bullseye with their first shot.

But it could also be an unmitigated disaster.

With the result that he world is now populated with a bunch of beta testers and most of us don't know it or wouldn't care if we did.
(Wonder what that says about vaccines ?)

[inetdog]

...
...
May be it is that glass half full or half empty thing. I am surprised I didn't hear that his system was too big.

Optimist: The glass is half full.
Pessimist: The glass is half empty.
Californian: There is a glass that is twice as big as it needs to be.

[Sunking]

To this date Tesla has not made a single penny. In fact companies with stock performance with better performance go bankrupt, investigated, and the CEO's go to jail for fraud.It losses and are enormous and PE ratios are infinity. By all definitions are fraud. .

[foo1bar]

[
Side note, I live in Maryland.

That's a long ways from me here in CA.

Probably would cost at least $1k to ship everything across the country. That's probably at least 2 pallets worth of panels, plus all the other stuff.

[preilly44]

To this date Tesla has not made a single penny. In fact companies with stock performance with better performance go bankrupt, investigated, and the CEO's go to jail for fraud.It losses and are enormous and PE ratios are infinity. By all definitions are fraud. .

Amazon didn't make a profit for a looong time either because they kept investing in the company, just like Tesla. Tesla has been profitable for the last 3 quarters though and if they can pull off profit this quarter will join the S&P.

It's interesting to see a Tesla short spouting off here...I didn't expect that. Sorry you've lost so much money shorting Tesla while the rest of us are killing it.

[preilly44]

Just to follow up, I sold the the system for $12895 last week. For those of you who may be in a similar position I was in, don't listen to the idiots saying you won't get anything or only $800.

I found the buyer by posting it on Craigslist.

[J.P.M.]

Just to follow up, I sold the the system for $12895 last week. For those of you who may be in a similar position I was in, don't listen to the idiots saying you won't get anything or only $800.

I found the buyer by posting it on Craigslist.

1.) I'd note Azdaves's post of 05/26/2020 12:33 P.M., and the last statement of my 05/26/2020 0735 A.M. post.
Among other things, Craig's list etc. serve to put buyers/sellers together.
That says nothing of the intelligence of either.
You may have gotten lucky, but whatever the outcome or reasons behind it, I also don't see any of that as a reason to call people idiots because their opinions may be at odds with what you might think or want.
Rereading your original post and the question you posed in it, I'd suggest you might consider being more careful what you ask for.

2.) At $12,895/19.25 kW = $0.67/W depending on your tax situation and how you valued the current system cost, it may have been more financially advantageous to find some worthy cause and donate.

Good luck with your Tesla glass roof.