How to add Powerwalls without touching existing PPA solar system

[GREGG MCVICAR]

Greetings Braintrust!

Longtime Tesla driver/investor, first time caller.

We want to add a Powerwall or two to our home in California to keep our sump pumps and home office alive during outages.

We are 8 years into a 20 year PPA (prepaid power agreement) with Spruce Power. It's been a good deal so far, but now that we want to upgrade (add a battery), as owners of the system, they claim sole domain over any upgrades and their prices are sky high -- pretty much double.

For the price of one of theirs, I could add a couple Powerwalls as stand-alone batteries, charging directly from the grid.

My question is this: Can we add Powerwalls to the system without stepping on Spruce's domain? Perhaps by adding a second gateway with its own isolated connection to the main breaker (or a smart breaker like SPAN).

Any insights would be welcome!

 

[jjrandorin]

I dont know the legal ramifications, but I have a Tesla PPA (initiated in 2015) and in 2020 added (2) Tesla powerwalls that I purchased outright. I am not sure how the PPA agreement stops you from being able to store the power and use it how you want, since the PPA agreement bills you for power generated by your system, and that wont change.

Each of these are different though, so you need to look into the nuts and bolts of it. The Tesla one does not put a lien on your home, for example, while some other ones do. This is a question for digging through your agreement, not something related to Tesla or powerwalls (since you dont have an agreement with them).

 

[Soul Surfer]

Greetings Braintrust!

Longtime Tesla driver/investor, first time caller.

We want to add a Powerwall or two to our home in California to keep our sump pumps and home office alive during outages.

We are 8 years into a 20 year PPA (prepaid power agreement) with Spruce Power. It's been a good deal so far, but now that we want to upgrade (add a battery), as owners of the system, they claim sole domain over any upgrades and their prices are sky high -- pretty much double.

For the price of one of theirs, I could add a couple Powerwalls as stand-alone batteries, charging directly from the grid.

My question is this: Can we add Powerwalls to the system without stepping on Spruce's domain? Perhaps by adding a second gateway with its own isolated connection to the main breaker (or a smart breaker like SPAN).

Any insights would be welcome!

I'm no "legal beagle" but if they invest in setting up the solar panels and now you want to add a power wall or any batteries to benefit from this, I would say that they are in their legal right. You'd probably have to find some loophole in their agreement, to either break it or fin a way around it. IMHO.

 

[GREGG MCVICAR]

Thanks everyone for the input. Turns out I went through a different door at Spruce and received a different answer, basically "do what you like, just don't interfere with our system." So we have an excellent contractor working out a plan. Onward!