CA and Powerwalls - Charge from grid?

[NathanielHrnblwr]

I have read conflicting information likely due to some of that information being outdated regarding CA Powerwalls and being able to charge from the grid.

Simply put, can one control when or how the PW charges? I.e. are you forced to charge from your solar array or can the PW be programmed to charge from the grid?

I've read that in CA a change was made that forced the PW to charge from the array, but others stated that only had to do with the SGIP rebate.

Can someone clarify?

 

[miimura]

If you have solar, Powerwall batteries will only charge from solar in the USA.

If you don't have solar, you can use Powerwalls to charge Off-Peak and discharge during Peak. However, in that case, you cannot take the 30% tax credit.

The Powerwalls have very limited settings. You basically have to choose one of the pre-defined modes and accept whatever strategy Tesla implements for that mode. Some people don't feel that any of the modes do what they want, so they force it by changing modes or changing the Reserve percentage at certain times every day. Some people have figured out how to do that programmatically.

 

[cwied]

And just to emphasize: it is the federal tax credit that imposes the restriction, not the California SGIP rebate. This seems to be a common misunderstanding.

 

[NathanielHrnblwr]

Thanks for the clarification. That's a bummer about not being able to control the charging schedule. I'm currently grandfathered into the older TOU where my peak rate is during the day and am selling back to the utility at that time. Perhaps when I'm forced to move to evening peak rates the PW would make more sense. My neighbor has a Sonen set up with solar with an EV rate and charges up the batteries and car at super off peak at night which seems to work out well for him.