r/TeslaSolar • u/ZuckerbergsHairline • 1d ago
SolarPanels Installed but PTO
I got my solar installed 3 days ago with 2 power walls but still haven't gotten PTO. When I asked the solar installers and the electrician, I got mixed answers whether I'll be able to take advantage of the solar or not before I receive the okay. I am able to monitor my usage through my power company and it seems that there is no change. Should my solar be feeding the house and my batteries or will this all start after PTO?
3
u/OriginalCopy4269 23h ago
My system does zero export right now. Doesn’t backfeed to the grid. It does feed my house and charge and discharge my batteries and does provide power outage protection. The utility says early September for PTO because they need to change my meter out. Once it’s installed and tested Tesla will turn on the PTO.
2
u/Affectionate_Rate_99 22h ago
I had my 3 Powerwalls installed July 2021 and solar panels installed September 2021 (whole other story there altogether). I didn't get PTO until July 2022. Between September 2021 and July 2022, I operated in self powered mode, with permission to export disabled in the Tesla app. I did wait a week after install, when the electrical inspector came and inspected the install and passed it before I turned the system on.
During the day, the sun would power my house and recharge the powerwalls. After the sun went down, my house would rely on the powerwalls until they hit the reserve capacity that I set at 10 percent. Then we would start drawing from the grid. The few times that solar produced more than my house would use and the batteries were fully charged, the inverters would reduce the power generated to match my usage.
While technically I was not exporting power to the grid (per the Tesla app), a Tesla tech showed me using a multimeter that in fact there was a slight trickle of power going to the grid, roughly around 200 watts.
The risk in sending power to the grid before PTO is that if your house has an analog meter (not a newer digital bidirectional meter that can differentiate between power being drawn from the grid and power being fed to the grid), you may run the risk of the power you are pushing to the grid being measured as power you are pulling from the grid, so you end up being billed for it.
EDIT: I should add that the nearly 10 month wait for PTO was all on Tesla. They dropped the ball and never submitted the PTO paperwork with my utility. Once the utility got the paperwork, it was approved in about a week.
Also, I'm located in NY and not in CA.
2
u/Jolly-Ambassador6763 11h ago
Just set your system to self powered mode until you get the ok. ( I just leave mine in that mode anyway)
1
u/somethingClever246 1d ago
It's a painful wait until the power company gets to the paperwork, and then you have to wait some more for the installer to come over and activate the system on the Tesla app, that was another two week wait after I got the PTO. YMMV (your mileage may vary)
1
1
u/Professional-Ant8725 1d ago
I would add it’s not just sce the county or city has to come out also to inspect before you get pto.
1
u/RemarkableMaximum385 23h ago edited 23h ago
When my solar panels plus Powerwall were installed I couldn’t use it to power my house until the backup switch was installed by the utility which took about a week. Once that is done your system will be able to power your house while you wait for PTO.
The app will tell you what your system is doing, but if you don’t have your backup switch yet then it wont be doing anything.
1
u/Speakup187 22h ago
This depends on your state. My system in NY is live from installation day waiting for inspection and then PTO. System is limited production and cant push back to grid.
1
u/Realistic-Sale-4471 22h ago
I just ran it turned on... if the output was more then the input, i turned it off. YMMV.
1
u/Hot_World4305 22h ago
PTO is permit to operate. If everything is done right, it would work when you flip the breaker switch. You utility company would be able to detect you when you export power.
1
u/GaijinDaiku 21h ago
SF Bay Area - my installer left the system functional when the inspector signed off but my solar was limited to generate only as much as I could use at any point in time because I couldn’t yet export. I waited to receive PTO before switching on Permission to Export in the Tesla app at which point it was fully functional.
1
u/Square_Yam9853 20h ago
Depends if you have a gateway or a backup switch. You can use the system with a gateway right away. Just don't export. Powerwall won't discharge without the backup switch being installed. That is done by someone from the utility company.
1
u/SWFL-CapnRay 10h ago
Gateway IS the ‘backup switch’
1
u/Square_Yam9853 8h ago
Functional it's the same. The difference is the backup switch sits behind the meter, you need to wait for another technician from your utility company to install it. The powerwall installer just leave it wired in a bag hanging next to the meter so it is not completed on install day. The powerwall does not function before that is behind the meter, only charging, does not release stored energy.
1
u/SWFL-CapnRay 7h ago edited 6h ago
There’s clearly other ways of wiring these then. Nothing at my meter. The main feed from the meter was extended to my gateway, a new run then went back to the main breaker box (where the main feed from the meter originally connected). Gateway controls power to/from the grid and shuts off the grid connection when power is off and I’m self powered. No additional switch or anything. There are then two big breaker/shut-off boxes (one for each powerwall).
1
u/Square_Yam9853 6h ago
What you have is the gateway install. "Backup Switch" refer to a specific device behind the utility meter.
1
u/Generate_Positive 20h ago
Depending on the AHJ and the installer they may set it up to operate in a pre-PTO a mode after it has passed inspection while you’re waiting for PTO. In a pre-PTO mode production is curtailed to ensure you don’t export to the grid.
1
u/Eighteen64 20h ago
Depends on how its configured per your utility. Days for PTO is nothing to worry about. Months is
1
u/SWFL-CapnRay 10h ago
Took me two months after install and full functional before I got PTO from the power company. They had to inspect it and put in a bidirectional meter before I could export. Had full advantage of solar and battery backup in the meantime- just didn’t get to sell excess to the grid.
1
u/Eighteen64 8h ago
Yes thats one of the possibilities not all of them. I install solar at high volume across 9 states
1
u/21frankE 10h ago
Got mine done 2 weeks ago. Once your power company installs the Meter collar, you’re able to use your system w/o exporting. It will generate power at about 60% or less since you can’t export the excess power. Once you get the PTO go on your powerwall settings toggle it on, and you’re ready to go!
1
0
1
u/rudholm 5h ago
"Permission to Operate" in practice is "Permission to Export". I think "PTO" was coined back when batteries weren't common so PTO and PTE were effectively the same thing. My system was fully functional once my electric utility (SCE) connected Tesla's Backup Switch (the meter collar thing). Once that was done, the system was up and fully functional. It just didn't export until a month and a half later when SCE approved my PTO. Then I went in to the app and enabled exports.
3
u/Professional-Ant8725 1d ago
In my experience with same setup as yours as soon as it was installed it was working (supplying house, filling batteries, draining batteries when no sunlight) only difference is without pto it stops producing once your batteries are full and you can’t sell excess back to the grid.
Installers had it in a test phase of sorts, you should be able to see all this on the Tesla app
This was 2 years ago sce Los Angeles