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Furthermore, if you get Powerwalls, you can also join a demand response program such as Ohm Connect and make money to help offset the cost of your installation. Note, link includes a referral link.
I don't mean to hijack the thread but when I started reading up on Ohm Connect it didn't seem like it would make sense for me. I'm shocked to hear you made over $800 in a year. My understanding (probably very, very wrong) was that the rewards were largely based on beating (reducing) your normal consumption when they trigger a savings event. Since I never use any peak power, assuming that's when the events are typically occurring, I didn't think I'd save anything. Anyway, if you were up for describing your experience with Ohm Connect (probably in a separate thread that you could reference here) I'm sure I and others here would find it helpful to understand how its working for you.
Whatever portion of this sort of savings is enabled by the powerwalls should definitely be incorporated into the equation which isn't something I can do since I'm obviously unfamiliar with them...so that could certainly change the equation significantly.
Adjusting home power and Powerwall use can help maximize points if you allow you Powerwalls to NOT cover some peak TOU usage between 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. I lose some savings from peak shaving in exchange for higher demand response payments (points).
I am on the PG&E EV-A rate schedule. Typically (and recently) I have the Powerwalls always cover part of the weekday peak period of 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (see below image) and the whole weekend peak period of 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The weekday peak period of 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. are selectively covered by the Powerwalls when there is an OhmHour and an extra day or two of the week (weekday).
I do exactly what @GenSao does with my powerwall and ohmconnect. I am not as successful since I do not get many megahours, but for the regular hours I get $8-10 back since I am a diamon member and streaks have not been broken. I live in an earlier where it is cooler and energy consumption is not affected by the heat (believe it or not only 20 miles from @GenSao—bay area microclimates)To not hijack another tread, I am posting my OhmConnect response here. Previously, I stated:
Then @dotbombjoe:
I actually made closer to $850, but about $50 was rebates from purchases so I excluded them. See below image for how much I recently earn at each OmnHour event. Conversion: 100 Points = $1.00 USD.
View attachment 428605
You are correct in the basic premise of OhmConnect. From the above image, the typical time for a OmnHour event is from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for me. Sometimes I have seen a few between 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Although I have not used the feature, there is an option to select day/times you are willing to have an OhmHour event.
Adjusting home power and Powerwall use can help maximize points if you allow you Powerwalls to NOT cover some peak TOU usage between 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. I lose some savings from peak shaving in exchange for higher demand response payments (points).
I am on the PG&E EV-A rate schedule. Typically (and recently) I have the Powerwalls always cover part of the weekday peak period of 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (see below image) and the whole weekend peak period of 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The weekday peak period of 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. are selectively covered by the Powerwalls when there is an OhmHour and an extra day or two of the week (weekday).
View attachment 428609
There is a little bit of recharging during the peak period. I am fine with that. Powerwalls do not cover the part-peak periods as they are typically charging from solar at that time. Also note, OhmConnect's payments are considered taxable income and are reported to the IRS (1099-MISC) if you go over $600 in a year.
Initially, I did not consider the demand response program as part of the ROI calcs. To reiterate, by sacrificing some savings from peak shaving, I am able to capture higher demand response payments (points).
The way I look at OhmConnect is as a discount to the power during the hours during which I participate. There are some perverse incentives in that the price of power in the summer effectively goes negative because of the size of the OhmConnect payments. This means it's advantageous financially to charge an EV during those hours on days when there isn't an OhmHour, for example.
Yeah, perverse incentives indeed. I mean, charging during peak to maximize your reduction seems quite the opposite of what "should" be done. Given I qualified for SGIP, I don't think I'd feel right about consuming peak power when I think it's clear the intent of that program is to help the grid work more efficiently. Not that I would judge anyone else for doing it at all, but given my circumstances, I'll probably just pass on the demand reduction programs.
I am on the PG&E EV-A rate schedule. Typically (and recently) I have the Powerwalls always cover part of the weekday peak period of 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (see below image) and the whole weekend peak period of 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The weekday peak period of 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. are selectively covered by the Powerwalls when there is an OhmHour and an extra day or two of the week (weekday).
But how do you automate switching the Powerwall coverage during the week between OhmHour/some weekdays vs your presumably now “regular” weekday days when your 6-9pm consumption is supplied by grid?
For this part I see you modify the weekday rate schedule in the app to eliminate the partial-peak periods and curtain the peak period by 3 hours.
But how do you automate switching the Powerwall coverage during the week between OhmHour/some weekdays vs your presumably now “regular” weekday days when your 6-9pm consumption is supplied by grid?
@GenSao : Wondering if you have any additional comments about utilizing OhmConnect now vs your last posts in August 2019?
@cwied
What are you using to interface with the API?
I’ve been looking to set something up myself to automate this thats not too involved. I was looking the other day and saw one or two python based solutions, and I guess you’d use that via a Raspberry Pi?
Interestingly, when I deleted my cars from OhmC the other week (they stopped responding to control [I assume this was due to me changing my tesla password]), after re-adding, it also pulled in my powerwall, so I guess they are working on something to perhaps control it. I was meaning to manually switch it to see if it does anything, but kept forgetting to try, and now it seems they’ve removed the switch now.
Despite the reduced earnings now, there is still money to be made. I made $2500 in 2018, $1500 in 2019, and a little over $200 so far this year. Hopefully now that summer is kicking in, we’ll get some megas etc and more opportunities.
They have just started these AutoOhms which now kind of messes with my strategy a bit since it pays based on 15 min for each Thermostat cycle off and smart switch turn off, and wont cycle my car off, or have any advantage to using the powerwall either.