In the Wild: Commercial Purchase of PowerPack

A new Tesla Powerpack and solar installation shows the potential of the system for commercial projects

I gather the purchase was to take advantage of TOU arbitrage, presumably the early evening hours. I wonder how long it will take for the utility to decide that in fact those hours are not peak, and make the PP a poor investment. After all, the PP owners do not have a PPA with the utility.

 

I didn't mean that the utility would change terms just for this one customer. The article says

I gather off-peak is 12 cents a kWh
Peak is 42 cents a kWh

Installed PV is quite a bit less than 12 cents a kWh over the life of the system so this is not a case of utility sourced charging at night into the PP to be used by the customer during peak rate time unless the business is operating after the sunset. That is why I inferred that this is an arbitrage play -- good until the early evening rate is dropped. I'm most skeptical of that rate staying high, mostly because I expect the locals to catch on to the game and cool down their homes an hour before they leave work when the rates are low.

 

Ahh... I forgot about demand charges. That may well explain the investment.