Tesla Powerwall installation in Santa Cruz County
We're certified Tesla installers. Powerwall is the tightest all-in-one option if you're starting fresh — and the same C-10 crew handles the panel and interconnection work it depends on.
Powerwall is Tesla's home battery, and its defining trait is how much it does in one box. Newer Powerwall generations include the solar inverter, so a fresh solar-plus-battery install needs fewer separate pieces of equipment on the wall and fewer conversion steps between your panels and your house.
Powerwall 3 can also work alongside existing solar, keeping the solar inverter you already have. Whether that arrangement suits your home depends on the inverter, system size and backup design. We compare keeping your equipment with changing it before recommending a system.
New to batteries generally? Start with home battery backup — it covers what a battery does in an outage, how long it really lasts, and whether you need solar. This page assumes you've got that and want to know about Powerwall specifically.
Exactly what we handle — and the two things you handle.
Sunrise provides
- Powerwall unit or units, plus the Tesla Gateway that handles grid disconnect and backup switching
- All interconnection between the Powerwall, your main panel, and the utility service
- Critical-loads subpanel where that's the better answer, including moving the circuits that matter
- Any panel or service work the interconnection turns up, quoted before we start
- Integration with new or existing solar, including an honest assessment of whether your existing inverter should stay
- Mounting, conduit, disconnects and labelling to current California Electrical Code
- Building permit, inspection, PG&E interconnection application and permission-to-operate
- Commissioning with a real outage test, Tesla app set up on your phone, warranty registered
You provide
- Access to the panel, the meter, and the intended equipment location on the work day
- A clear list of what has to keep running — this is what sizing is built from
- Wi-Fi at the equipment location, so monitoring works from day one
- HOA or architectural approval where applicable
Start to finish, with real times.
Free home inspection and sizing
A tech looks at your panel, your service, and where the equipment could physically go, then works through what you actually want running when the power is out. That list is the whole design — it decides how many units you need and whether you're backing up the whole house or a critical-loads subpanel. You get a written report and a real number.
Permit and utility interconnection
We pull the permit from your city or county building department and file the interconnection application with PG&E. The paperwork is usually the long pole, not the labour — timelines vary across the county, and we tell you the realistic date rather than the optimistic one.
Install day
Powerwall and Gateway mounted and interconnected, any subpanel work done, conduit run and labelled. Your power is off for part of the day while we work at the service — we tell you which part in advance.
Inspection, commissioning, and handover
Inspection by the building department, then permission to operate from PG&E, then commissioning. We run a real outage test — cut the feed, watch it transfer, confirm it carries what you asked for — set up your monitoring app, register the equipment warranty, and walk you through what happens automatically and what doesn't.
Every quote is free. The range depends too much on your home to fake it.
We give you a real number at the free inspection rather than a range on a web page. Battery projects vary more than most electrical work — what you want backed up, where the equipment can physically go, how far it is from your panel, and whether your service can take it as-is are each large enough to move the total on their own. One thing to get straight before you budget: there is no federal tax credit on home battery storage for 2026 installs. Section 25D — the 30% residential credit that covered owned solar and standalone storage — terminated on 31 December 2025. If a quote or an article you're reading still assumes it, that assumption is out of date, and we'd rather you hear it from us than at tax time.
6 questions. Real answers.
Pulled from what we actually hear on quotes and on-site. If yours isn't here, ask us — we'll answer in plain English.
I already have solar. Does Powerwall still make sense?
Can I back up my whole house?
What does it actually do when the power goes out?
How many Powerwalls do I need?
Is there a federal tax credit?
Do you install Powerwalls you didn't sell?
Here’s the honest path — wherever it leads.
We'd rather you get the right outcome than the Sunrise outcome. Some of this points away from us on purpose.
Outside Santa Cruz County?
Look for a CSLB-licensed C-10 contractor who is a certified installer for the system you're considering — certification is what governs warranty registration and parts access. Verify the licence at cslb.ca.gov, and check the quote includes the permit, the utility interconnection, and any panel work rather than adding them later.
Browse our field guidesHave existing solar?
Keeping your existing solar may be possible with Powerwall 3. We compare the equipment you have, the circuits you want backed up and each system's compatibility requirements. FranklinWH is another option to consider.
FranklinWH batteriesNot sure a battery is the answer?
A free whole-home inspection tells you what your service can actually support and what backing up your house would really involve. You keep the written report either way, and about a third of these end with no work scheduled.
Schedule a free inspectionWe do this work everywhere in Santa Cruz County.
From Davenport to Pajaro Dunes, San Lorenzo Valley to Pleasure Point. Same crew, same warranty, same pricing.
Want a real number on a Powerwall?
Free on-site inspection, honest sizing, and a written quote with the permit and interconnection already in it.