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PG&E rolling blackouts during heatwave (Aug 14 2020 —> ?)
- Thread starter 180r
- Start date
Perhaps consumption is down because power is being cut?
“Update, 5:53 p.m. Authorities in Berkeley have just announced that 33,964 PG&E customers “will be included in rolling blackouts this evening.”
Update: 34,000 PG&E customers in Berkeley will lose power Monday
Seems the strategy worked... I guess time to get into your Tesla for some A/C and gaming.
And yet PG&E states that they didn’t need to do any outages today:
You are being redirected...
Bruce.
So my Powerwalls were NOT in storm watch mode today. I'm normally in time based control/minimize cost mode. Because of when my peak time is, it started discharging early in the afternoon. It would have reached my reserve limit long before the forecasted peak. Of course because PG&E is sending messages that I might lose power so I don't want to set my reserve too low. I wish there is a support CAISO curve mode. As I'm writing this I thinking of how I can "hack" it. My first thought is to put my PW in backup only mode and then flip back to time base control some time later in the afternoon.
And I just noticed that Tesla had sent email recommending using Time Base Control and adjusting the peak to line up with the predicted CAISO curve. That was the other hack I was considering, my primary hesitation is how annoying setting the times are in the app. The primary advantage is I don't have to do anything after I set it (other than undoing when the crisis is over)
Keep in mind Tesla has clauses in the manual stating you'd void your warranty doing that.
Example from https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/model_3_owners_manual_north_america_en.pdf page 180:
Code:
CAUTION:Do not use the Battery as a stationary power source. Doing so voids the warranty.It's a lovely 100F here in Lafayette today. Not sure what the high temperature was.
Continuing to see voltage sags in the afternoon (around 106V as measured on the site side of my Powerwall gateway). Once again my solar inverter dropped off-line...it's been that way for most of the 3 o'clock hour here. As I'm typing this, we just entered peak period for EV2-A and the Powerwalls are powering the house. The site voltage is up to 109V now, so maybe my inverter might start up again. Ah wait, there it did.
I understand what's happening, but not liking it. The Powerwalls and inverter (Fronius IG Plus) are doing everything right, just the voltage from PG&E is way out of whack. I wonder if it's possible to reconfigure the inverter to be more tolerant of weird voltages.
One of my UPSs (it's one of the Eaton models we've discussed here on TMC for its wide frequency tolerance) went into a mode I've never seen before, which it reports as "OL BOOST" (on-line boost?)...it appeared to be using the battery to increase the output voltage because it thought the input voltage was too low. I guess that protects the equipment behind it. Nice feature...didn't know it had this.
Bruce.
Continuing to see voltage sags in the afternoon (around 106V as measured on the site side of my Powerwall gateway). Once again my solar inverter dropped off-line...it's been that way for most of the 3 o'clock hour here. As I'm typing this, we just entered peak period for EV2-A and the Powerwalls are powering the house. The site voltage is up to 109V now, so maybe my inverter might start up again. Ah wait, there it did.
I understand what's happening, but not liking it. The Powerwalls and inverter (Fronius IG Plus) are doing everything right, just the voltage from PG&E is way out of whack. I wonder if it's possible to reconfigure the inverter to be more tolerant of weird voltages.
One of my UPSs (it's one of the Eaton models we've discussed here on TMC for its wide frequency tolerance) went into a mode I've never seen before, which it reports as "OL BOOST" (on-line boost?)...it appeared to be using the battery to increase the output voltage because it thought the input voltage was too low. I guess that protects the equipment behind it. Nice feature...didn't know it had this.
Bruce.
uujjj2
Member
C'Mon Tesla. Crank out those Powerwalls, Powerpacks, and Megapacks. Until we have large scale grid storage the fossil fuel fans will be able to keep bashing renewables.
For our part we're running the AC nonstop during midday and then turning the thermostat to 80 as our solar output drops around 6pm.
We have a Powerwall that can run everything in our house except the AC and Tesla charger.
For our part we're running the AC nonstop during midday and then turning the thermostat to 80 as our solar output drops around 6pm.
We have a Powerwall that can run everything in our house except the AC and Tesla charger.
We just got notice that the rolling blackouts will start soon. According to our number, we should get hit around 8 PM.
Update. Looks like we are Block 50 which should NOT be affected by a power shutoff.
Anyone with an outage number of 50 is exempt from shutoffs. Those include hospitals, police and fire stations, along with areas that were blacked out in the last round of rolling blackouts.
How to check if your house will lose power in a PG&E blackout
Update. Looks like we are Block 50 which should NOT be affected by a power shutoff.
Anyone with an outage number of 50 is exempt from shutoffs. Those include hospitals, police and fire stations, along with areas that were blacked out in the last round of rolling blackouts.
How to check if your house will lose power in a PG&E blackout
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Honestly I'm surprised that the Powerwall doesn't see 106v (12% too low!) as out of spec. Do you know what your min voltage + ride through is set to on your Powerwall?
I'm sure I'm missing something but I'd be tempted just to throw the main breaker and self power with utility voltage that low.
Merrill
Merrill
I checked our bill the other day and we’re in Block 50 but south of San Jose but have in the past been affected by shutdowns. Guess we’ll see.
Not sure when the 1 hr alert was posted on CAIOS but here it is:
Hope people are aware of how close we are and have turned up their A/C settings, etc. Would be great if we can get through another night without anyone losing power.
AMPd
Well-Known Member
Extreme environmentalists got us into this mess, shutting down fossil fuel generated power plants without a proper replacement is why now we can’t handle the load.
One of the Calif congressmen or senators was on KCBS radio the other day and said basically that the PUC has dragged their feet on moving forward with solar and battery promotions/installs especially residential/commercial customers. When asked why, he said he believes they wanted instead to get large scale industrial companies to step in and partner with them than deal with all the “little guys” using solar and storing their own power. So the little guys would also get less control over the pricing too I assume.
I certainly don’t understand how Calif has been pushed to build out housing and commercial, rolling over low-growth passed local laws, especially before sufficient infrastructure is there to handle it. This IMO goes beyond electrical needs and includes water resources as well. Calif is most likely going to be in a hot, drought season for some time and I just don’t get forcing more homes and industries into cities when electricity and water will be increasingly stretched thin to support citizens.
Checked back in at CAISO and here’s the updated report. Does appear to be a reduction in demand. Also their Alert about Load Interruption has been deleted from the report. Hopeful.
from PG&E outage map however it looks like areas around Livermore, Napa, and St. Helens have large blocks of customers down.
from PG&E outage map however it looks like areas around Livermore, Napa, and St. Helens have large blocks of customers down.
AMPd
Well-Known Member
Sacramento Area where I live has been exploding with new housing and commercial building. I don’t understand how they can build all these new properties when it was only a few years ago where water was so scarce we weren’t even allowed to water our lawns. It’s not like they built desalination plants to increase water production... so what’s going to happen the next time we’re in a drought? Where’s the extra water going to come from to service the new housing neighborhoods and commercial buildings. Insane
No clue...is there an easy way for me to find that out (like one of the various API calls)?
That thought had crossed my mind, but I would have lost my AC (it's not backed up)...
It's interesting that the Powerwall gateway gives all this other information about the quality of our electrical power that I hadn't even thought of before.
Bruce.
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