Possibly adding a 3rd Powerwall. Good idea?

[RKCRLR]

1) Red tape: apparently getting 3x Powerwalls makes it so Tesla won't allow you to support the advanced features. And, PG&E will require a NEM2-MT agreement instead of NEM2-PS. All this red tape makes 3x Powerwalls unattractive.


If red tape and ROI were off the table, then more batteries is more better.

I have a 3rd Powerwall scheduled for installation on June 1. I currently have Grid Charging under my Advanced Options in the app. I wonder if I will fall through the cracks with Tesla and be able to keep grid charging. There is no mention of me having to switch from PS to MT in my interconnection agreement and the box is checked to stay on my current rate (EV2-A). Tesla filled out the agreement like I have no existing solar or Powerwalls. The form is titled "AGREEMENT AND CUSTOMER AUTHORIZATION Net Energy Metering (NEM2) Interconnection for Solar and/or Wind Electric Generating Facilities of 30 Kilowatts or Less: with Energy Storage of 10 Kilowatts or Less, or Energy Storage with Power Control System Certification".

It will be interesting to see how this all plays out.

 

[BGbreeder]

Another 3 Powerwall owner with grid charging, and PG&E.

 

[miimura]

I have nothing under advanced because I suck.

You're not the only one. I have no Advanced menu and can't even see VPP option any more.

There should be more items in this list, right?

 

[h2ofun]

You're not the only one. I have no Advanced menu and can't even see VPP option any more.

There should be more items in this list, right?

View attachment 809832

you have to click on power wall to see advanced options which I cannot see yet

 

[jboy210]

you have to click on power wall to see advanced options which I cannot see yet

And scroll way down on the advanced options to the bottom.

 

[miimura]

And scroll way down on the advanced options to the bottom.

Nothing to scroll to below the Rate Plan.

 

[h2ofun]

And scroll way down on the advanced options to the bottom.

Yep, if you are lucky enough to have

 

[h2ofun]

Nothing to scroll to below the Rate Plan.

View attachment 809872

Yep, lots of possbible whys. First, person seems to have to own the solar, no loans

 

[jboy210]

Yep, lots of possbible whys. First, person seems to have to own the solar, no loans

What are the other possibilities?

 

[h2ofun]

What are the other possibilities?

sce does not allow. There are bugs in the AP. You account is labeled sun run installed. You accounts has bugs in the files that are setup at Tesla.
only way to find out is call tesla PW support

 

[arnolddeleon]

The question is why do you want to capture more of your solar production?

Is it to self-consume more? (because you will get more satisfaction that way?).

Are you consuming from grid during peak hours so you can do more power arbitrage?

Do you want to me backup power runtime (which has nothing to do with "capturing more")

I went from two Powerwalls to three and for me that was a big difference. I run pretty much self powered 9 to 10 months of the year. I would need more solar to make it through the remaining 2 to 3 months. I have a special reason to want to self-power, PG&E has "lost" the records for my PV systems and I couldn't get the to recognize it. So my total exports are limited so it makes sense to self consume. That turns to be quite satisfying too. Extra backup power is a nice bonus.

It also means I've stopped really worrying about peak power consumption. This was not a benefit I had planned on. @holeydonut was correct in his advocacy for this benefit.

I do have grid charging options for my 3 powerwall setup (at least it looks like that in my app, I haven't played with it). My powerwalls were all purchased and installed from Tesla. I own 2 out of the 3 PV systems on my house. The middle one is a Solar City lease.

 

[h2ofun]

The question is why do you want to capture more of your solar production?

Is it to self-consume more? (because you will get more satisfaction that way?).

Are you consuming from grid during peak hours so you can do more power arbitrage?

Do you want to me backup power runtime (which has nothing to do with "capturing more")

I went from two Powerwalls to three and for me that was a big difference. I run pretty much self powered 9 to 10 months of the year. I would need more solar to make it through the remaining 2 to 3 months. I have a special reason to want to self-power, PG&E has "lost" the records for my PV systems and I couldn't get the to recognize it. So my total exports are limited so it makes sense to self consume. That turns to be quite satisfying too. Extra backup power is a nice bonus.

It also means I've stopped really worrying about peak power consumption. This was not a benefit I had planned on. @holeydonut was correct in his advocacy for this benefit.

I do have grid charging options for my 3 powerwall setup (at least it looks like that in my app, I haven't played with it). My powerwalls were all purchased and installed from Tesla. I own 2 out of the 3 PV systems on my house. The middle one is a Solar City lease.

If one has electric heat pumps like me, NO amount of solar would allow me to make it through the winter months without so many PW's, it would be nuts. Instead, I pump SO much solar back to my PGE battery in the non winter, my credit is in the thousand of dollars

 

[charlesj]

I have these advanced options showing. Didn't try any of them.

 

[holeydonut]

The question is why do you want to capture more of your solar production?

Is it to self-consume more? (because you will get more satisfaction that way?).

Are you consuming from grid during peak hours so you can do more power arbitrage?

Do you want to me backup power runtime (which has nothing to do with "capturing more")

I went from two Powerwalls to three and for me that was a big difference. I run pretty much self powered 9 to 10 months of the year. I would need more solar to make it through the remaining 2 to 3 months. I have a special reason to want to self-power, PG&E has "lost" the records for my PV systems and I couldn't get the to recognize it. So my total exports are limited so it makes sense to self consume. That turns to be quite satisfying too. Extra backup power is a nice bonus.

It also means I've stopped really worrying about peak power consumption. This was not a benefit I had planned on. @holeydonut was correct in his advocacy for this benefit.

I do have grid charging options for my 3 powerwall setup (at least it looks like that in my app, I haven't played with it). My powerwalls were all purchased and installed from Tesla. I own 2 out of the 3 PV systems on my house. The middle one is a Solar City lease.

Yeahhhh screw this trashhhh

https://m.facebook.com/towertalentstudiowest/videos/ryder-clark-commercial-for-energy-upgrade-california/406100413896264/

 

[Fruitcake]

Hi,

Our solarroof is putting out a lot of power and we are feeding back to the grid considerably more than we consume. To capture some of this I am thinking about adding a 3rd Powerwall. Is this a good idea? If so, what sort of issues does this create with PG&E, NEM, etc.? Also, has anyone heard about Powerwalls switching to LiFePo technology?

I would say it depends on the priority and value you place on energy resiliency.

If having electricity during an extended (multi-day) outage is a priority for you, then yes, I would add the third PW.

If not, I would skip it, for the other various cost-savings related reasons people have already mentioned.

 

[Fruitcake]

Here's the thread discussing the new, advanced features. Basically it enables more control of the Powerwall to grid-charge and export stored energy generated from solar and/or sourced from the grid.

Experiences for who got access to the features is all over the place. Tesla told me on several occasions that my 3x Powerwall system was barred from the new features since 3 is bad, and 2 is good. But then @Vines has 5x Powerwalls (not the + kind) and he has the features. Maybe 2 is good, 3 is bad, 4 is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, and 5 is good.

New Powerwall Advanced Options [Toggles for charging from and discharging to grid from powerwalls]

With these new settings, we can now pretty much control all the modes for the PWs except put it in standby. Anyone know how to put the PWs in a standby mode? In either self-powered or TOU mode I don't see how I could do this, but would be nice if house load uses all available solar and any...

teslamotorsclub.com

Why on earth would a specific number of PWs be bad?

They're wired in parallel, so the exact number doesn't really matter - the charge (and draw) is distributed equally amongst the available units. And with each incremental PW you add, it lessens the burden on the others. This is why having multiple PWs can offset the problem of having an ancient air conditioning compressor with a high LRA - the amperage gets distributed across multiple PWs - and again, the more the better.

(Except for the maximum of 10 that Tesla will support.)

 

[holeydonut]

Why on earth would a specific number of PWs be bad?

They're wired in parallel, so the exact number doesn't really matter - the charge (and draw) is distributed equally amongst the available units. And with each incremental PW you add, it lessens the burden on the others. This is why having multiple PWs can offset the problem of having an ancient air conditioning compressor with a high LRA - the amperage gets distributed across multiple PWs - and again, the more the better.

(Except for the maximum of 10 that Tesla will support.)

I didn't mean "bad" in the sense 3x Powerwalls was actually a faulty system design or functionally incompatible with a normal home backup.

It's because a particular Tesla rep told me a few days ago that 3x or more Powerwall systems were barred from being able to access the advanced features that Tesla recently rolled out. The guy said that power companies forbid any Tesla Powerwall system over 10 kW (2x Powerwalls) from accessing grid charging or grid exporting. So my system having 3x Powerwalls was "bad", and I should have only bought 2 powerwalls if I wanted advanced features. So 3 = bad, 2 = good.

I feel like Tesla just makes stuff up left and right over there in terms of who has access to what advanced features. Some people have both grid charging and grid exporting. Some people can only grid export. Some can only grid charge. And some have none of the features enabled. But the Tesla rep swore up and down that 3x or more = bad... I'm just relaying their message here.

Also, none of this makes sense when considering @Vines has 5x Powerwalls, and he's more cool than me since his 5x system has access to the advanced features. All without him having to do anything out of the ordinary. Both Vines and myself are on the NEM2-MT PG&E interconnection. My interconnection paperwork includes both the ESS exporting at 3 x 5 kW = 15 kW plus the solar exporting at 7 kW to be eligible to hit PG&E's grid. I would imagine Vines also has 5 x 5 kW = 25 kW + his solar as being grid-export-eligible under NEM2-MT.

 

[BGbreeder]

I'm on the same interconnect, and only have the grid charge feature...

 

[holeydonut]

I'm on the same interconnect, and only have the grid charge feature...

Does your "eligible for export" total in section 2.7 include peak kW from both PV + ESS?

I still think I'm the only loser with NEM2-MT and this box checked while also having paid for insurance to protect PG&E's hardware from my batteries.

 

[jboy210]

Does your "eligible for export" total in section 2.7 include peak kW from both PV + ESS?

I still think I'm the only loser with NEM2-MT and this box checked while also having paid for insurance to protect PG&E's hardware from my batteries.

View attachment 811527

Is it normal for a system with your configurations to get hit with all these restrictions?