Connected Solutions Real-World Experiences (MA - National Grid / EverSource)

[jsurpless]

Hey everyone

I was hoping that folks in Massachusetts could share their real-world experiences with Connected Solutions so far this year.

Asking because my mom lives in SE MA and has EverSource - her experience so far this year has been a bit disappointing. She's had overwhelming 3-hr events (18/20) with EverSource calling events almost every weekday for the last 3 weeks even when it was cool weather and/or cloudy out. This has resulted in only a 6.6 average kW discharge for the season which is a good deal lower than the relatively conservative estimates I'd made. Perhaps my estimates were too optimistic but also perhaps it has something to do with my estimates being based on National Grid events, as opposed to EverSource. Of course, they were also based on last summer so there's that possibility too.

So... could anyone share how their events are so far this year? I live in Bellingham and have National Grid - anyone out this way? I ask predominantly because I was counting on CS as a major offset to the cost of the PWs and this is weakening that offset.

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Er1c*]

Interestingly, EverSource in MA told me that it is up to the battery vendor to send notifications and Tesla is not sending them....

You might be right, maybe I have it backwards! It was a while ago.

 

[jsurpless]

You might be right, maybe I have it backwards! It was a while ago.

Just meant to point out that there may be different info out there... I still can't believe that Tesla is permitted to not inform us, as per program docs

 

[kb1ibt]

I live out in the Worcester/Leominster area and my system has been called by National Grid on the 6th and every day since the 9th, so 8 days in a row, and since the drain to 20% battery is down below my reserve level (50%) I don't know if it will be pulled again tomorrow. I know there were other events earlier in the summer, but I didn't get PTO until July 28th.

 

[kb1ibt]

Looks like today will be another pull (day 9 in a row) since I charged past the reserve and I am still pulling from the grid instead of some power being diverted from the solar->powerwall changing to power the house. On days where there isn't a pull, once I hit reserve the power from solar splits between the battery and the house. On days where they do a pull the solar doesn't split (house/grid) until the batteries are full.

 

[jsurpless]

I live out in the Worcester/Leominster area and my system has been called by National Grid on the 6th and every day since the 9th, so 8 days in a row, and since the drain to 20% battery is down below my reserve level (50%) I don't know if it will be pulled again tomorrow. I know there were other events earlier in the summer, but I didn't get PTO until July 28th.

How long have your events been?

 

[qnzkrew]

Looks like today will be another pull (day 9 in a row) since I charged past the reserve and I am still pulling from the grid instead of some power being diverted from the solar->powerwall changing to power the house. On days where there isn't a pull, once I hit reserve the power from solar splits between the battery and the house. On days where they do a pull the solar doesn't split (house/grid) until the batteries are full.

do we know why on days they pull from battery, the house stills pull from the battery during a DR event even though there is enough solar to supply the house. during these events all the power from goes to grid and the battery powers the house and only the difference between the 5kw draw per battery and the house load goes to the grid. in my case when my two powerwalls output 10kw combined for an hour and the house is consuming 3kw , you only received credit for the 7kw even though my panels are producing more than the 3kw for the house.

 

[kb1ibt]

How long have your events been?

All of mine are 2 hours long, I have 2 PW.

 

[kb1ibt]

do we know why on days they pull from battery, the house stills pull from the battery during a DR event even though there is enough solar to supply the house. during these events all the power from goes to grid and the battery powers the house and only the difference between the 5kw draw per battery and the house load goes to the grid. in my case when my two powerwalls output 10kw combined for an hour and the house is consuming 3kw , you only received credit for the 7kw even though my panels are producing more than the 3kw for the house.

I can't answer for certain but I might be misunderstanding what you are seeing / looking at, but I still send the excess to the grid and my "grid services" looks like fairly sharp edges:

 

[qnzkrew]

I can't answer for certain but I might be misunderstanding what you are seeing / looking at, but I still send the excess to the grid and my "grid services" looks like fairly sharp edges:

If you go to energy usage tab and click on grid services you can see how much you sent back to grid during an event. So even though your powerwalls were discharging at say 10kw for 2 powerwalls for an hour ,it doesn’t show that you sent back 10kw during that hour because it subtracts your house energy use during that same house. So if you were sending back 10kw from battery and your house is using 2 kw you only get credit for 8kw sent during that hour of the event. This is even though you might be producing enough solar energy at the same time to satisfy your home needs.

 

[adspguy]

If I understand it correctly, you get credit for what is discharged from your powerwalls during an event whether it goes to the grid or your house consumes it.

 

[jsurpless]

If I understand it correctly, you get credit for what is discharged from your powerwalls during an event whether it goes to the grid or your house consumes it.

I believe that this is correct - my understanding is that it's about "curtailment" (I think that's the language used in MassSave docs) and reducing demand on the grid.

 

[qnzkrew]

I believe that this is correct - my understanding is that it's about "curtailment" (I think that's the language used in MassSave docs) and reducing demand on the grid.

The issue is that this isn’t shown in the Tesla app. Tesla shows the amount sent towards grid services as the max amount discharge for the two or three hours MINUS the amount the house used during that time. So my two powerwalls discharge at 10kw for two hours and my house uses 1.5 each hour for a total of 3 kw and it shows as sending 17kw to grid services which discounts the 3kw the house used.

 

[Zinc_Saucier]

The issue is that this isn’t shown in the Tesla app. Tesla shows the amount sent towards grid services as the max amount discharge for the two or three hours MINUS the amount the house used during that time. So my two powerwalls discharge at 10kw for two hours and my house uses 1.5 each hour for a total of 3 kw and it shows as sending 17kw to grid services which discounts the 3kw the house used.

Isn’t the payment based on average kW and not kWh? (I don’t have my PWs installed yet, but will be signing up when I get them). My understanding is that it’s the average of the kW provided by your batteries over the course of the season. I think you have some swapped units in your post above. Your house was using 1.5kW, but the sum of that over 2hrs is 3kWh not 3kW, same goes for the sum, it’s 17kWh that you provided to the grid, not 17kW. Your power output from the PWs was 10kW, which will be a single event data point that will be used to calculate the average power output for the season.

 

[jsurpless]

Isn’t the payment based on average kW and not kWh? (I don’t have my PWs installed yet, but will be signing up when I get them). My understanding is that it’s the average of the kW provided by your batteries over the course of the season. I think you have some swapped units in your post above. Your house was using 1.5kW, but the sum of that over 2hrs is 3kWh not 3kW, same goes for the sum, it’s 17kWh that you provided to the grid, not 17kW. Your power output from the PWs was 10kW, which will be a single event data point that will be used to calculate the average power output for the season.

Yes, the incentive is based on the kW average over the duration of the event. The kW is what you see if you use your finger on the graph and pan left/right. The easiest way to get the average of all of the kW is to just take the kWh that Tesla app reports as having been discharged and divide it by the duration of the event.

Here is what I have been tracking for my mom since PTO in early June

 

[jsurpless]

So my mom just got notification from EverSource that they will not need any winter events going forward so they have changed the program to reflect this.

This is a bit surprising that they can just do this - has anyone received similar about National Grid in MA?

Interestingly on this program site, EverSource has also changed the duration from 2-3 hr to a flat 3 hrs.

I checked NG's site and they have also eliminated the winter season, although the incentive rate has been increased from $225 to $275 for the summer season. I wonder how this affects someone who signed a contract for $225?

 

[djlandkpl]

So my mom just got notification from EverSource that they will not need any winter events going forward so they have changed the program to reflect this.

This is a bit surprising that they can just do this - has anyone received similar about National Grid in MA?

Interestingly on this program site, EverSource has also changed the duration from 2-3 hr to a flat 3 hrs.

I checked NG's site and they have also eliminated the winter season, although the incentive rate has been increased from $225 to $275 for the summer season. I wonder how this affects someone who signed a contract for $225?

I'm on NG and haven't heard anything yet. Last winter was my first year and there was 1 event. Still got a check for $239.

 

[jhn_]

So my mom just got notification from EverSource that they will not need any winter events going forward so they have changed the program to reflect this.

This is a bit surprising that they can just do this - has anyone received similar about National Grid in MA?

Interestingly on this program site, EverSource has also changed the duration from 2-3 hr to a flat 3 hrs.

I checked NG's site and they have also eliminated the winter season, although the incentive rate has been increased from $225 to $275 for the summer season. I wonder how this affects someone who signed a contract for $225?

Interesting. First I’ve heard of this change too.

It doesn’t surprise me that they can change the program though because they also let you join or leave at any time. There is no contract between either party. They do have you “enroll” which includes a signature but it is not a contract.

 

[SolPowered]

I'm in CT with Eversource and got the notification that they wouldn't be having a winter season. No notice of upping the credit for the summer season - still shows $225.

I'm bummed - all these things would have gone to recoup the cost of all this stuff a little sooner.

 

[adspguy]

I'm on Eversource in MA and got the same notification. I got $566 last time.

 

[Will792]

I just received a check from EverSource, which was somewhat unexpected since payment for prior season came from Tesla. My understanding is that utility company pays to Tesla which takes 20% for intermediation services and forwards the rest to the customer.