Is there anyway to stop a Grid Services event?

[jlv1]

TL/DR: Is there anyway to stop a Grid Services event in progress?

We lost power an hour ago for 1 minute. It was our 4th outage in the last 4 days. We're in the path of a massive thunderstorm cell (it's currently down pouring). We're likely to lose power again.

And moments ago my PowerWalls started discarding to the grid! We're down to 83%.

Once again, Storm Watch is failing to protect us. (Storm Watch failed us again [in MA, Late July 2021])

 

[jjrandorin]

"Grid services" discharging to the grid (which is something I believe you sign up for) is different, than that referenced thread, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, I dont participate in any of those services for exactly this specific reason, so I dont know.... but is there no opt out button or anything?

 

[jjrandorin]

"Grid services" discharging to the grid (which is something I believe you sign up for) is different, than that referenced thread, at least in my opinion.

Anyway, I dont participate in any of those services for exactly this specific reason, so I dont know.... but is there no opt out button or anything?

Answering my own question, for "connected solutions" which Is something I believe you have to sign up for, it doesnt look like there is:

Tesla Virtual Power Plant with ConnectedSolutions Program | Tesla Support

www.tesla.com

(relevant information from the above link)
=====================================

How can I ensure that I’ll still have backup energy if I need it?

• Severe storms: Storm Watch mode will be active 24/7/365 and will prioritize backup over participation in this program if a severe storm is forecast.
• During program events: the Powerwall will always retain at least 20 percent of its capacity as backup during events. Of course, program events only make up 3% of the year.
• All other times: You can set your backup preferences in your Tesla app.

======================================

So, yeah, it says stormwatch is supposed to prioritize backup during an event, but it sounds like it isnt for you right now, so ... definitely qualifies as "storm watch mode failing you again".

 

[aesculus]

TL/DR: Is there anyway to stop a Grid Services event in progress?

What about running your reserve up to 100%? Won't that shut off the event?

 

[jjrandorin]

What about running your reserve up to 100%? Won't that shut off the event?

Just from reading that blurb, it sounds like "During program events", it will retain at least 20% (which means that it can drain down to 20%), and the statement "of course program events only make up 3% of the year" quote imply to me that "during program events" nothing you do will matter but hey its only 3% of the year".

 

[djlandkpl]

I think the only way to stop it is to flip the gateway breaker so you go off grid. I understand why the events are always late afternoon but it's one of the drawbacks. There's not enough solar at the end of the event to charge the battery if something happens to the grid. 20% won't get me through the night.

 

[aesculus]

Sounds like this one is not as good as the one they cooked up for PG&E that explicitly allows you to set your reserve limit.

When the event begins, you will receive a push notification reminding you of the event end time, and your Powerwall will begin discharging to support the grid. Your Powerwall will discharge until the event ends, or when it discharges to your selected Backup Reserve level.

Emergency Load Reduction Pilot | Tesla Support

Participate in the Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP) pilot offered by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and support the grid while also earning compensation and maintaining your energy security.

www.tesla.com

 

[jlv1]

What about running your reserve up to 100%? Won't that shut off the event?

The reserve doesn't affect the event. It will draw you down to 20% no matter what.

but is there no opt out button or anything?

There isn't. This is the response I got from [email protected]: "The program right now doesn’t support opt out of a single event."

I think the only way to stop it is to flip the gateway breaker so you go off grid.

Interesting. If I do this, does it draw from the Powerwall?

Right now, I've changed the "Energy Exports" setting to Solar instead of Everything. This says it will only export what my solar is generating and feed the house off the Powerwall, which looks like it will accomplish the same thing.

 

[jlv1]

TL/DR: I think my power is just to unreliable to continue to participate in the Connected Solutions program. The extra $1500/yr is nice, but it causes too much angst. Especially in an extra hot summer (we are in our fourth 90-degree day in a row) with lots of storms.

From the original event (Friday August 5), the other half of my town got hit with massive outages. A house 3 miles away was hit by lightning and burned. It was all significant enough to make the Boston-local news.

Yesterday was another messy day. First we had the Connected Solutions event drain the PWs to 20%. Then we lost power - this was the app status at 6:21pm. So much for the usefulness of having 20% backup reserve.

Thankfully the outage was only 5 minutes. Power came back on. *THEN* they declare a massive T-storm alert and Storm Watch is triggered and the PowerWall starts charging. The T-storm hits at 6:45 with the PWs at 22%. The thunder was happening under a quarter second after the lightning. It blew through and windows rattled, but we didn't lost power again.

But Storm Watch kept active *after* the storm, and kept charging the PowerWall from the grid. Which was thankful, because we lost power again in the middle of the night, at which point it was at 77%.

So in this instance, at least they kept Storm Watch active for way longer than they needed to.

 

[jhn_]

Yeah if your power is too unreliable and you need a large reserve, Connected Solutions is not for you.

Hopefully as the technology matures, the utilities get used to it, and their are more customers with batteries on the grid, we will see more flexibility in programs like this. Connected Solutions follows the first “model” of VPP they rolled out down under and then here in the northeast of North America first. We’ve already seen tweaks in the VPP model for CA where the pool of customers with batteries is much larger.

But I can see a utilities side of needs for a VPP program too, and that is to have some level of control of assurance that when they call on a VPP that they can count on a certain amount of resources to be there. We’re all on a journey to figure this out, and believe it or not it’s one of the reasons I wanted to participate, to help push this technology and the processes around it forward, to get better, mature, and mainstream.

Until then we have to decide between backup or revenue for our 2-3 Powerwalls each here in the northeast. Or buy 5 to 10 Powerwalls!

 

[jlv1]

Right now, I've changed the "Energy Exports" setting to Solar instead of Everything. This says it will only export what my solar is generating and feed the house off the Powerwall, which looks like it will accomplish the same thing.

FWIW, this has made a bit of a difference. With this setting, the dispatch events the last two days have only been drawn the PowerWalls down to 45% (rather than all the way to 20%). It obviously will have impact on the payout at the end of the year, but it's a much better buffer for me at the moment.