A4 • Friday, October 15, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
SignalViewpoints
Supercharging your home with a Tesla roof
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
V
isitors to South Edgewood Street in
September might have been under
the impression that Elon Musk had
moved in. Stacks of boxes marked Tesla lay
neatly stacked in the driveway and a fl eet of
vans marked “Tesla” parked in front.
When they fi rst got the dumpster and
the pallets, homeowner Ronald Bynoe said,
“it was really much more obvious because
every pallet had boxes with the Tesla logo
on it.”
The driver delivering the port-a-potties
warned Bynoe that this was a residential
neighborhood, and Bynoe replied, I am a
resident. “Then why do you have pallets of
car parts?” the driver asked.
Bynoe answered that the car parts were
his new roof. “He had never heard that
Tesla does roofs,” Bynoe said. “And I’ve
had numerous neighbors come by and
watch the whole process. Initially, they
were also all very surprised that Tesla does
roofi ng and that it can look like this. “It’s
very unique, and it’s the fi rst of its kind in
Seaside.”
Bynoe, an engineer with Intel, has
always been a bit of a tech nerd, he said.
With his wife, Judith, a teacher, and their
son, James, the family moved to Seaside
from St. Helens a little more than a year
ago.
Noting that local electric power on the
coast has “intermittent issues during the
winter,” he wanted to secure his supply and
also become a little bit greener.
“We didn’t want to have that concern of
‘Well, the power went out, the refrigerator’s
out, we can’t turn on our computers and
our work is an hour-and-a-half away,” he
said. “So it has made us want to be a little
bit more proactive about keeping the power
stable at the house.”
They priced the roof and determined
that while it was signifi cantly more expen-
sive than a conventional roof, the Tesla roof
stores more power than the house uses and
could provide electricity savings for the
life of the roof, which is guaranteed for 25
years.
A regular roof for the 3,500-square-foot
property would have been about $50,000,
Bynoe said. The Tesla roof, including solar
panels, batteries and installation, came to
about $75,000.
“It took about three weeks to install,”
he said. “Tesla solar roofs do take longer
than a regular roof, also because of COVID.
They’ve had a hard time with staffi ng.”
Other supply and labor delays also
delayed the project substantially.
The glass roof is a mix of inert glass
panels and photovoltaic active solar tiles,
Bynoe said, with metal fl ashing.
They researched the Tesla roof and
found that there is one in Astoria in a much
ABOVE: Ronald Bynoe in front of his South Edgewood home. LEFT: Wall panels in the basement
store electricity the homeowners can sell back to the power company for credits.
smaller house, and they’ve done about 30
in the Portland metropolitan area. They are
more popular in California and Hawaii, he
said. “We got on a waiting list about a year
ago and six months later approved for the
process.”
A local roofi ng company tore off the old
roof like any other job.
The next day, 36 pallets stacked three
high were delivered and a contractor from
Hillsboro came to begin the installation
process.
Plastic hooks and tabs are screwed
down through that into the roof. Each panel
latches into that and then plugs in. Fabric
underlayment makes everything watertight.
“If one panel breaks, they just unlatch it,
unplug it and plug in its replacement,” he
said. “The whole thing’s kind of like a fl oat-
ing roof, in a sense sitting on these plastic
tabs and wires underneath.”
Any one of those can be removed indi-
vidually, he said. Fabric underlayment
makes everything watertight.
“It’s eerie and it’s kind of unnerving,
because it creaks a little bit when you walk
on it,” he said, but sturdy enough to with-
stand 138-mile-an-hour winds, and the
stress of a 200-something pound person
walking across it.
The roof delivers 18.5-kilowatts, about
twice the power of a traditional solar roof,
Between two and three days power is stored
in power walls, batteries in the garage.
“Right now we’re paying a regular elec-
tric bill at night,” Bynoe said. “During
the daytime, we generate electricity and
it either goes into the battery or we’ll get
credit.”
Two batteries automatically kick in
when the power goes out, no more genera-
tor needed.
The Bynoes are still in the permitting
process and haven’t signed any contracts
with the utilities yet.
When those are in place, they will sign a
contract for wholesale power, selling power
back to the power company. When those are
in place, they will sign a contract allowing
export of excess power generated back to
the utility, eff ectively banking excess power
for when there’s no sunshine, retrieving the
credit at night.
The family can track their power con-
sumption on a 24-7 basis, showing how
their power is stored during daylight hours.
Graphs show spikes when the home appli-
ances like washer, dryer and dishwasher are
in use.
If other homeowners make similar
changes, there could become a “commu-
nity power grid,” he said. “If we have a
blackout, maybe the power doesn’t go out
because there’s enough houses with bat-
teries sharing it. Tesla has a virtual power
plant with this setup in California.”
Clatsop County sent someone out the
next day, but the inspector wouldn’t do any-
thing because he didn’t recognize the solar
roofi ng material. “It was just something
very new he hadn’t seen before,” Bynoe
said. “So he wanted to be cautious about
signing off on it because it’s structural as
well as electricity generating. The Tesla rep
said it can take up to three months for coun-
ties to approve it.”
Bynoe is patiently waiting for an OK
from the county so he can put his invest-
ment to work. A county inspector is sched-
uled this week to review the project. This
time Tesla is scheduling their electricians
to be present during the inspection so that
they can answer any questions he has while
he’s here to ensure it has the best chance of
success.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
First Interstate gives Spay & Neuter donation
Seaside Signal
First Interstate Bank of Sea-
side delivered a $2,500 donation
Thursday to the Spay and Neuter
Thrift Shop.
“They’re really good clients
of ours, and they’re always very
friendly,” branch manager Ashlee
Gilbertson said. “We know they
do a lot for the community. And
so we wanted to give back and
First Interstate is really about giv-
ing back.”
The shop, on the bank of the
Necanicum, provides clothes,
costumes, toys, puzzles and
more, all to help off set costs of
spaying and neutering of puppies
and kittens.
Even with reduced hours, the
store has been “manic,” volun-
teer and board member Marilyn
Dito said. “We have a line when
we open up.”
The shop is always looking for
donations, both thrift items and
cash. Volunteers are also sought.
“A lot of us are retired service
industry people, a lot of teach-
ers, nurses, airline stewardesses,”
Dito said.
After she retired from the
phone company, she needed
something to structure her day. “I
came down here donate. And one
thing led to another, Three hours
became six, and then I became a
board member. It’s all for a good
cause.”
The Spay and Neuter Thrift
Shop is open Monday, Tuesday,
Thursday, and Friday from noon
until 2 p.m. each of those days.
There is usually someone at the
shop on Wednesdays as well for
donations at the back door.
TUESDAY, OCT. 19
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., work
session, 989 Broadway.
Seaside School District, 6 p.m., seaside.k12.
or.us/meetings.
WEDNESDAY, OCT. 20
Seaside Tourism Advisory Committee,
3 p.m., 989 Broadway.
THURSDAY, OCT. 21
Seaside Transportation Advisory Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
MONDAY, OCT. 25
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.us.
TUESDAY, OCT. 26
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation Dis-
trict, 5:15 p.m., Bob Chisholm Community
Center.
R.J. Marx
From left, Spay and Neuter Thrift Shop volunteers Cheryle Barker,
Marilyn Dito, Gean Vandehey, Kari Douma, Cindy, Debbie, with Ashlee
Gilbertson and Tracie Dice of First Interstate Bank of Seaside.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Seven-day
construction week
critical in Gearhart
This letter was sent to Gear-
hart Mayor Paulina Cock-
rum and city councilors. It is
reprinted at the writer’s request.
Considering burdening the
residents of weather challenged
Gearhart with more restrictive
work hours than Carmel, Cali-
fornia, makes one wonder who
you view as your constituents.
Entitled retirees (some who
have recently relocated to the
community) or working fami-
lies in the construction and land-
scaping trades that provide jobs
and services for the community
and Gearhart property owners
who want to build on their lots
or remodel their properties?
We started exterior carpen-
try work and lead based paint
abatement at the former Gear-
hart school in early August
2021. Being able to work seven
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Shannon Arlint
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
Contact local agencies for latest meeting
information and attendance guidelines.
days a week under the exist-
ing rules has been critical to us
completing the job in 10 weeks
and before the onset of win-
ter. My opinion is that the vast
majority of Gearhart property
owners want to retain that same
fl exibility when building or
remodeling.
Sunday we were able to get a
carpentry crew to fi nish our fi nal
exterior work that will allow us
to complete painting Monday,
which is expected to be a par-
PRODUCTION
MANAGER
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
SYSTEMS
MANAGER
Carl Earl
tially cloudy day. After that the
forecast is for six consecutive
rainy days. As you all know, this
variable weather situation is not
atypical in Gearhart.
While I would prefer hav-
ing Gearhart’s construction
work hours match Warrenton’s
(7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to
Sunday), keep it simple and do
not change our 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Monday to Sunday work hours.
Bob Morey
Gearhart
TUESDAY, NOV. 2
Seaside Community Center Commission,
10 a.m., 1225 Avenue A.
Seaside Library Board of Directors,
4:30 p.m., 1131 Broadway St.
Seaside Planning Commission, 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 3
Seaside Improvement Commission, 6 p.m.,
989 Broadway.
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m., cityofgearhart.
com.
THURSDAY, NOV. 4
Seaside Parks Advisory Committee, 6 p.m.,
989 Broadway.
MONDAY, NOV. 8
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m., cityofseaside.
us.
Seaside Signal
Letter policy
Subscriptions
The Seaside Signal
is published every other week by
EO Media Group,
1555 N. Roosevelt, Seaside, OR 97138.
503-738-5561
seasidesignal.com
Copyright © 2021 Seaside Signal. Nothing
can be reprinted or copied without consent
of the owners.
The Seaside Signal welcomes letters to the editor. The
deadline is noon Monday prior to publication. Letters
must be 400 words or less and must be signed by the
author and include a phone number for verifi cation. We
also request that submissions be limited to one letter
per month. Send to 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive, Seaside, OR
97138, drop them off at 1555 N. Roosevelt Drive or fax to
503-738-9285, or email rmarx@seasidesignal.com
Annually: $51.00, monthly autopay is $4.25
e-Edition only: $4 a month
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Seaside
Signal, P.O. Box 210, Astoria, OR 97103. Postage Paid at
Seaside, OR, 97138 and at additional mailing offi ces.
Copyright © 2021 by the Seaside Signal. No portion
of this newspaper may be reproduced without written
permission. All rights reserved.