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!

 

[djlandkpl]

National Grid, MA. I now have an event scheduled for 6/20 at 5 to 8 PM

 

[appleguru]

2nd 3hr event of the season today (EverSource, MA). My broken powerwall had been replaced, so back in the game with 3x operational. Definitely different behavior this year; seems tesla is trying to output for the full duration of the event.

I ended at 8pm with around 24% SoC left in my PWs though, so it seems they still have some optimization to do… curve seems like they were playing catch up, ramping the power up after they realized they were undershooting:

 

[solarAddict]

I think this "behavior" started last year and difference is that earlier it was showing that 100% of possible output (5kW for 1PW, 10kW for 2 PWs etc) drains to the grid. Now it shows the portion that goes to support your house.
Actually, I just looked closed to these images and PW chart. Last year it was max output and with 2 PWs, it was usually drained to 20% in 2 hours. Now it looks like they stretch it to the duration of full event, 3 hours.
Wonder how it will affect the payment calculation.

 

[Brian Murphy]

I had a call with Tesla, they updated my firmware on the walls to 25.12.3 and had me change the reserve. When I changed my reserve during the event it started exporting. Its unclear if its was a firmware or reserve settings. For those in the program what do you have your reserve set to? I had it set to100 and did not see it exporting?

 

[adspguy]

2nd 3hr event of the season today (EverSource, MA). My broken powerwall had been replaced, so back in the game with 3x operational. Definitely different behavior this year; seems tesla is trying to output for the full duration of the event.

I ended at 8pm with around 24% SoC left in my PWs though, so it seems they still have some optimization to do… curve seems like they were playing catch up, ramping the power up after they realized they were undershooting:

View attachment 1058279

I am also eversource in eastern mass and saw the same ramp up behavior. My PWs ended at 20% at 8pm. Then, it immediately started charging the powerwalls from the grid, I think due to thunderstorms in the area predicted until 9pm. I didn't notice a stormwatch alert in the app but the powerwalls charged from the grid until 9, back up to 42%

 

[adspguy]

I had a call with Tesla, they updated my firmware on the walls to 25.12.3 and had me change the reserve. When I changed my reserve during the event it started exporting. Its unclear if its was a firmware or reserve settings. For those in the program what do you have your reserve set to? I had it set to100 and did not see it exporting?

I have my backup reserve set to 100%. I only discharge the PWs during grid events or grid failure since I have 100% net metering. Being at 100% reserve does not have an impact on grid events, other than you being more likely to be able to participate fully. Tesla seems to target leaving 20% reserve after a grid event. In my case they had been discharging at either 10KW or 15KW for a 3 hour or 2 hour event respectively.

 

[Metralla]

5 minutes after the end of the event, we had a severe thunderstorm warning so Stormwatch added some grid right back in!

 

[solarAddict]

5 minutes after the end of the event, we had a severe thunderstorm warning so Stormwatch added some grid right back in!

Same here.. It was after 8 and I noticed storm is coming, and I was like ... didn't we just drained the battery into grid... Opened the app and see Storm Watch is on and PW it's already at 38%