The First Tesla Powerwall 3 in the UK

Spirit Energy Install the First Tesla Powerwall 3 in the UK. 

 ... to be installed by anyone other than Tesla.

The First Tesla Powerwall 3 in the UK to be installed by an installer. 

To find out more about Powerwall 3, see our Tesla Powerwall 3 Knowledge Bank.

Here's our step-by-step installation video:

That’s right – it's actually the 5th Tesla Powerwall 3 in the UK, however, the first 4 were installed by Tesla as “pilot installs” to test the installation, commissioning process and to iron out any kinks prior to the announcement of Tesla Powerwall 3 in the UK on June 19th. Spirit Energy are the first installer to install a Tesla Powerwall 3.

Spirit Energy are one of Tesla’s 29 Premium Partners in the UK (out of a pool of 1,500 installers). It's a high bar to become a Premium Partner, Spirit Energy installed 239 Tesla Powerwall 2 units last year and have installed well over 1000 Tesla Powerwall 2 units in total. Tesla selected us to be the first company in the UK to install a Tesla Powerwall 3. 

The first Tesla Powerwall 3 in the UK 

We installed the first Tesla Powerwall 3 for a Tesla employee in Horsell, Woking. Spirit’s Head of Installations, Justin Parsons, and one of our senior electricians, Simon Norris, arrived at the customer’s house at 8am to begin the installation. 

Step 1: Unboxing & Mounting Powerwall 3  

The first step was to mount the Powerwall 3 on the external wall where the customer wanted it to sit. Powerwall 3 is shipped in an all-new sustainable clamshell packaging design that can be reused by Tesla to help lower the cost and carbon footprint of the product. 

Tesla has designed a dolly to lift and mount the Powerwall 3. This will save time and make it much easier to lift and manoeuvre the Powerwall 3.

Mounting Tesla Powerwall 3 using the new mounting dolly.

 Step 2: Installing Tesla Gateway 2. 

The next step was to decommission the customer’s existing system from a different manufacturer, ready for the upgrade to the Tesla Powerwall 3. Following this, our Head of Installations began to install and wire Tesla’s Gateway 2 in the customer’s utility cupboard. Gateway 2 is primarily responsible for disconnecting, ‘islanding’, the house from the grid in the event of a power cut. 

 Spirit Energy’s Head of Installations wiring the Tesla Gateway 2 in preparation for the Powerwall 3.

Step 3: Wiring Tesla Powerwall 3. 

While Justin cracked on with wiring Gateway 2, Simon started pulling cables through the wall to connect Powerwall 3 both to Gateway 2 and to the customer’s electricity supply. 

The cables that need to be run to Powerwall 3 are: 

• The solar DC strings (the DC cabling from the solar panels).
• An earth cable (this leads to an external earth rod which is required for back-up mode).
• An AC cable from GW2 to PW3 (the main cable that transfers power from the PW3 to the gateway / consumer unit).
• A LAN cable (this is from your internet router or local data port for your Tesla app and ongoing support).
  
• A CAT 5 communications cable from GW2 to PW3 (this is for internal communication between GW2 and Powerwall 3). 

One of Spirit Energy's senior electricians pulling cables from Gateway 2 to Powerwall 3. 

 Running cables to the Tesla Powerwall 3.

Step 4: Completing Gateway 2 Wiring. 

It takes 2-3 hours to fully wire Gateway 2 (if you’re doing it properly and carefully, that is). Part-way through the installation, Justin switched off the customer’s electricity to re-route the incoming supply cables through Gateway 2. This allows it to island the house in a power cut. 

Unfortunately, due to the previous installation that was decommissioned, the cable arrangement and placement in the cupboard was difficult to make perfect like we would design for a brand new installation.

 The Tesla Gateway 2.

Step 5: Wiring the Solar DC Strings to Powerwall 3. 

While Simon installed the earth rod, Justin began crimping and wiring the DC cables from the on-roof solar panels. Tesla Powerwall 3 has a solar inverter capable of up to 20kW DC input, however, in this case we only needed to use the 3.68kW inverter as the customer has a relatively small, 10 panel solar system. 

Tesla Powerwall 3 has 3 solar MPPTs which stands out against most inverters that only have 2. 

 Spirit Energy’s Head of Installations, Justin Parsons, wiring the solar DC strings into Tesla Powerwall 3. 

Step 6: Installing the Front Cover & Commissioning. 

Following completion of the wiring, it was time to put the front cover on and go through the commissioning process. The Tesla Powerwall 3 light glows an epic, Iron Man shade of red when being commissioned. 

 Tesla Powerwall 3 glows red during system commissioning.

 Tesla Powerwall 3.

 Spirit Energy's Simon Norris switching on the first Tesla Powerwall 3.

We’re super proud to be the first installer in the UK to install a Tesla Powerwall 3, and we’re very grateful to Tesla for giving us this honour. It’s a huge testament to the hard work of everyone at Spirit Energy and our unwavering commitment to excellence & quality.

Please get in touch to request a quotation for Tesla Powerwall 3 or to find out more.