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!

 

[jhn_]

I can confirm that for me on National Grid that grid services was enacted this morning at 5am EDT this morning. Meaning that all solar is going to top off the Powerwalls and the house is running from the grid. This is the prep phase for what we expect to be the first VPP event of the season from 2-7pm today.

 

[qnzkrew]

Hit 4pm and app went into grid services for a second and then back to normal as if it was cancelled. This has happened before but just throwing it out there

 

[adspguy]

An event started for me today 7/1/22 at 4pm. I expect it to go for 3 hours as usual.

 

[appleguru]

(Confirming our first event is happening now too and also started at 4p)

I’m only seeing ~10kW (actually, 9.4-9.5 atm) of discharge though (even though my PWs can do 15)… seems like that will hurt our incentive rate? Is that normal?

 

[adspguy]

This discharge looks very different from previous ones. The discharge seems to be tracking my house usage. Previously the discharge rate with my 3 powerwalls was a flat 10KW for 3 hour events. Occasionally it would do 15KW for 2 hours, but that was rare. Tracking my house usage is not nearly as good as a flat 10KW discharge in terms of payback. The whole point would be to add power to the grid, not just cancel my usage.

 

[jhn_]

Weird event here too today. PWs charge with solar to 100% earlier in the day while house ran off grid, then when PWs were full, house ran from solar with excess to grid. So far that’s normal and what I saw last year.

At 4pm the PWs started powering the house and the solar was going to the grid. But no large draw to the grid even though still in a grid services event. Maybe they ended up not needing all the VPP capacity?

 

[jhn_]

This discharge looks very different from previous ones. The discharge seems to be tracking my house usage. Previously the discharge rate with my 3 powerwalls was a flat 10KW for 3 hour events. Occasionally it would do 15KW for 2 hours, but that was rare. Tracking my house usage is not nearly as good as a flat 10KW discharge in terms of payback. The whole point would be to add power to the grid, not just cancel my usage.

Right. Same here. Canceling my usage is what I do every day running in self-powered mode since we have no TOU rates.

 

[qnzkrew]

Weird event here too today. PWs charge with solar to 100% earlier in the day while house ran off grid, then when PWs were full, house ran from solar with excess to grid. So far that’s normal and what I saw last year.

At 4pm the PWs started powering the house and the solar was going to the grid. But no large draw to the grid even though still in a grid services event. Maybe they ended up not needing all the VPP capacity?

Okay this is exactly what mine is doing also here in Rhode Island just cancelling my house draw instead of supplying the grid. As long as the payment calculations work the same as previous years specially for us in those island that have a new power company

 

[djlandkpl]

Weird event here too today. PWs charge with solar to 100% earlier in the day while house ran off grid, then when PWs were full, house ran from solar with excess to grid. So far that’s normal and what I saw last year.

At 4pm the PWs started powering the house and the solar was going to the grid. But no large draw to the grid even though still in a grid services event. Maybe they ended up not needing all the VPP capacity?

National Grid. Same experience. PW supplying the house, solar going to the grid.

 

[jhn_]

ISO New England does show capacity slightly higher than demand at the moment with a large increase in hydro power coming from Canada into the New England grid at Highgate starting around 2pm. It’s price around $139/MwH. I wonder if they figured that was cheaper than VPP to meet some of the demand in addition to demand not outstripping capacity so far.

ISO New England - Real-Time Maps and Charts

www.iso-ne.com

 

[appleguru]

Down to 9kW now, even though the house is drawing more than that at the moment… very odd.

 

[appleguru]

And down to 7.4kW (out of 15kW possible) now, with likely only minutes left and over 34% SoC on the powerwalls.

Not a good sign for our payouts this year unless I’m missing something. :-/

 

[adspguy]

Here is my discharge today. Let’s hope it goes back to the previous behavior with larger discharges.it ended up about 1/2 what last years discharges.

 

[Zinc_Saucier]

I’m metrowest on Eversource and didn’t get an event today. Is everyone National Grid (or non-Eversource)?

 

[appleguru]

I’m metrowest on Eversource and didn’t get an event today. Is everyone National Grid (or non-Eversource)?

I’m eversource (east)

 

[adspguy]

I’m on eversource

 

[Zinc_Saucier]

Well that’s odd. I guess I need to confirm with them that everything is set up correctly…

 

[jsurpless]

I'm in Bellingham with National Grid and had a 3-hr event yesterday, starting at 4PM. My mom who has EverSource in Acushnet had some odd behavior where it was discharging for a short time (no Grid Service on main screen for her - only to 88%).

My average discharge rate was 7.3 kW, for a total of 21.8 kWh over the 3 hrs.

Also, I don't think that it matters where the PowerWall kWh goes (house vs grid). I believe that it's really all about the discharge rate on the PW.

 

[kb1ibt]

I also had the same experience as some of you yesterday, where the batteries only drained with house usage and all of the solar production went to the grid. I called Tesla during the event and they said they would escalate to the backend team and I would hear back in a couple days. (NatGrid customer, 2x PowerWalls)

 

[jsurpless]

I also had the same experience as some of you yesterday, where the batteries only drained with house usage and all of the solar production went to the grid. I called Tesla during the event and they said they would escalate to the backend team and I would hear back in a couple days. (NatGrid customer, 2x PowerWalls)

This is happening to my mom right now