Integrated Solar with Tesla Powerwall VIDEO (July 2020)

Guelph Solar putting the sun to work in Oakville, Ontario at the site of Canada's largest installation of Tesla Powerwalls. This is not your typical residential system. There's 31 kW of solar on the roof feeding into 12 Tesla Powerwalls for a whopping 162 kWh of back up power. A project profile looking at Guelph Solar's goals: maximizing the solar energy output and at the same time not detracting from the lakefront home's already outstanding aesthetic appeal.

transcript:I'm Dave with Guelph Solar, and we've been designing, installing, and maintaining solar systems for over a decade. I really love technology and trying out new things, so I thought it was great when Tesla introduced their Powerwalls. I knew it would be a perfect fit to integrate them with solar power.

We have 31 kilowatts of solar on the roof and 12 Tesla Powerwalls in the basement, providing 162 kilowatt-hours of backup power. It's actually the largest Tesla Powerwall installation in Canada. Having the Powerwalls is fantastic because they act as the brains behind the system, understanding how energy is used in your house. They monitor energy consumption over time and determine when it's best to use solar power, when to use the batteries, and when to pull from the grid.

The solar panels are discreetly installed on the roof, so you'd really have to look for them to know they’re there. The system is designed to keep the power on for several days, even if the grid goes down, which I find pretty neat. We even custom-designed the racking to maintain the aesthetic appeal from the ground as the customer wanted. It also deals with the complex roof structures, ensuring the panels are installed above the shade lines.

In fact, the house looks better with the solar panels than without them, which says a lot. They’re modern and look terrific, clearly adding to the value and aesthetics of the home.

All the energy to drive my cars comes from the house. I charge them at home and almost never need outside charging systems. With the solar power, this setup will be even better, as I’ll be using clean energy to power my vehicles. It’s a very environmentally friendly and sustainable way of doing things, and it helps reduce some of the pressure on the grid.

Guelph Solar handled the entire design process for the system, including all the approval processes, meeting with inspectors, and working with our homebuilder, Stephen Colson, to ensure everything fit seamlessly into the house. They’ve done a tremendous job, making this complicated system simple for me, which is what Guelph Solar excels at.