Powerwall capacity not utilized?

[schrodarkian]

Also received a call today from someone assisting my original sales person, apparently they never filed for PTO and had me sign some paper that they forgot initially (ugh!).

I *believe* as long as you paid in full for the system in 2019 you should be able to claim 30%, not 2020's 26%.

 

[getakey]

Re taxes, my understanding is that any project started in 2019 is eligible for 20019 tax credit. D not have to have fully paid in 2019

 

[schrodarkian]

I realize that an "I believe" post is worth about the same as a used teabag, so here's what the SEIA says about it. I think they have more attorneys on retainer than me. Per their statement: if you paid for the install in 2019, you're good. If you paid (at least in part) in 2020, it's 26%. Highlighting is mine.

 

[charlesj]

I agree with this... but you WILL be checking the app several times a day at minimum, just because... Its mesmerizing.

Yes, you are right, I will be until it gets old.

 

[charlesj]

A call to technical support seems like a good idea at this point to inquire about this and confirm. It might take a few weeks to investigate on both sides. Keep calling them whenever you have some new information to push Tesla along.

What he could do, just came to me and just a thought, is turn off one PW by that side switch and see what happens for a day or two or several. Then, do it to the other side.
If one is bad, extra solar will go to the grid, nothing to PW, my thinking.

 

[gnumeric]

The app tells you when one of the powerwall breakers is tripped. I had a bad breaker on one of my powerwalls a few months ago that kept tripping. The other two powerwalls worked fine (charging and discharging), while the third was disconnected. Here’s what it looked like in the app:

 

[getakey]

tax credit - must be different opinions on this

According to IRS Notice 2018-59, to gain the full 30% tax credit by December 31, 2019, you must pass one of two tests:

• “Physical Work Test,” meaning proof that construction is underway.
• “Five Percent Test,” that illustrates you have incurred at least 5% of the total project costs by December 31, 2019. Permits, site assessments, plans, environmental impact studies — all of these costs qualify under the test.

 

[jjrandorin]

tax credit - must be different opinions on this

According to IRS Notice 2018-59, to gain the full 30% tax credit by December 31, 2019, you must pass one of two tests:

• “Physical Work Test,” meaning proof that construction is underway.
• “Five Percent Test,” that illustrates you have incurred at least 5% of the total project costs by December 31, 2019. Permits, site assessments, plans, environmental impact studies — all of these costs qualify under the test.

That doesnt apply for residential, I dont think, especially that 5% test. See the post from @schrodarkian

 

[schrodarkian]

tax credit - must be different opinions on this

According to IRS Notice 2018-59, to gain the full 30% tax credit by December 31, 2019, you must pass one of two tests:

• “Physical Work Test,” meaning proof that construction is underway.
• “Five Percent Test,” that illustrates you have incurred at least 5% of the total project costs by December 31, 2019. Permits, site assessments, plans, environmental impact studies — all of these costs qualify under the test.

I think they have different standards for residential vs. commercial projects. From what I understand the “construction underway” test applies to commercial only.

Thanks as always to our government for making things clear.

CA SGIP is worse. Spent a little time trying to understand that when I was considering using a 3rd party installer.

 

[schrodarkian]

That doesnt apply for residential

Yep! Section 48 is commercial, 25D is residential. It seems the law is much clearer for commercial.

“Placed in service” for residential has been interpreted to mean different things. Some have told me it’s when you get PTO, but that seems absurd since you’re waiting on a utility to get around to it. I wouldn’t have even thought waiting for county or city inspection should count. I took it as, all work has been completed and it’s verified operational, and you’ve paid for it.

Tesla turned on my system the day they installed. Kind of a wink wink thing. I couldn’t get NEM credit but I was producing solar. Whether or not they do that routinely probably depends on jurisdiction.

 

[getakey]

my mistake

 

[charlesj]

The app tells you when one of the powerwall breakers is tripped. I had a bad breaker on one of my powerwalls a few months ago that kept tripping. The other two powerwalls worked fine (charging and discharging), while the third was disconnected. Here’s what it looked like in the app:

...

Interesting, thanks. But, if I am correct, may not be, if the PW has other issues not a breaker, that would not show up as throwing the breaker does. Then you'd have to keep an eye out almost constantly to make sure they keep working. So, if you breaker off the good one, the bad will not charge and one can see that.

Having read about at least 2 PW going bad, an firmware update to show a bad PW not just a breaker issue would be great. Actually, a notification is in order as not everyone keeps a constant eye out.

 

[DHevey]

The app tells you when one of the powerwall breakers is tripped. I had a bad breaker on one of my powerwalls a few months ago that kept tripping. The other two powerwalls worked fine (charging and discharging), while the third was disconnected. Here’s what it looked like in the app:

View attachment 511380

View attachment 511381

That's good to know, but I didn't get that message. All looked normal when it happened to me.

 

[charlesj]

That's good to know, but I didn't get that message. All looked normal when it happened to me.

It seems that notification of PW issues is limited to that switch being off, not other failure issues? Not good as that failure can go unnoticed for a good while.