Solar system not exporting to grid

[Ikara-colt]

Hey guys,

my solar system is currently not exporting to the grid. Once my 2 PW are fully charged, my gateway (?) reduces the output of my solar panels to exactly match the consumption of my home. Is that a setting/ feature or is something wrong with my installation?

I am pre PTO (so right now I like it since it enables me to run my system w/o risk) but also want to make sure it’s not due to an installation mistake as from reading the forum, most other pre PTO system do not behave that way.

my setup: 8.1kw Tesla panels, 1 PW+, 1 PW, one GW2 plugged between my main panel and my sub panel. I am connected to the grid (if I turn off my PW+, the system correctly pulls from the grid).

Very curious if this is a feature or a bug. Thanks!

(and again - happy that it behaves that way until I get PTO but if it’s an Installation mistake I’d rather get Tesla to fix it ASAP and not in 3 months once I get PTO).

 

[bmah]

Hey guys,

my solar system is currently not exporting to the grid. Once my 2 PW are fully charged, my gateway (?) reduces the output of my solar panels to exactly match the consumption of my home. Is that a setting/ feature or is something wrong with my installation?

I am pre PTO (so right now I like it since it enables me to run my system w/o risk) but also want to make sure it’s not due to an installation mistake as from reading the forum, most other pre PTO system do not behave that way.

my setup: 8.1kw Tesla panels, 1 PW+, 1 PW, one GW2 plugged between my main panel and my sub panel. I am connected to the grid (if I turn off my PW+, the system correctly pulls from the grid).

Very curious if this is a feature or a bug. Thanks!

(and again - happy that it behaves that way until I get PTO but if it’s an Installation mistake I’d rather get Tesla to fix it ASAP and not in 3 months once I get PTO).

That doesn’t sound right, or at least I haven’t heard of other new systems behaving this way. I don’t have any insight, but it might help others to help you if you can also say what operation mode your Powerwall system is in (I.e. Backup Only, Self-Consumption, etc.) and what your reserve percentage is.

Just to double check, you have a Powerwall and a Powerwall+? Two batteries of slightly different versions?

Bruce.

 

[slcasner]

Hey, Bruce, what behavior have you heard for other pre-PTO systems? That if you enable the solar inverter to run it will send excess power to the grid, so you have to keep the solar turned off until PTO? (That was the case for me with our old PV system installed in 2000.) What the OP observes is what one would want to have in order to let the system operated legally before PTO. If the batteries are full the power from solar has to go somewhere or be scaled back.

I expect when our new system with Solar Roof is installed it will also have Powerwall+, Powerwall 2, and Gateway 2.

Steve

 

[Ikara-colt]

That doesn’t sound right, or at least I haven’t heard of other new systems behaving this way. I don’t have any insight, but it might help others to help you if you can also say what operation mode your Powerwall system is in (I.e. Backup Only, Self-Consumption, etc.) and what your reserve percentage is.

Just to double check, you have a Powerwall and a Powerwall+? Two batteries of slightly different versions?

Bruce.

I have a powerwall 2* and a powerwall + - sorry. I use any option - back up only, self consumption but that doesn’t change the result. My powerwall is now at 90% (am here) as the solar panel is cranking up but once full it will drop. Attaching picture of my energy graph - the huge drop is production is when the powerwall got full.
It’s a nice behavior if it’s intended (enables folks to test their system w/o putting utilities at risk) but concerning if not intended.

 

[jjrandorin]

OP this sounds like behavior that happens when you are off grid somehow being applied to when you are on grid. This doesnt match what we saw previously when in the "post install but pre - pto" state, but the introduction of the powerwall+ may have changed things.

Just guessing (literally just throwing something at the wall), it sounds to me like your system is setup in a mode for "no grid export" which as we understand it is one of the setup options available for when a utility does not offer net metering and grid export isnt allowed.

Said another way, I dont think its going to magically change functions once you get PTO without someone doing something to change settings in your system.

I am seriously just guessing, though, so want to make that clear.

 

[Ikara-colt]

OP this sounds like behavior that happens when you are off grid somehow being applied to when you are on grid. This doesnt match what we saw previously when in the "post install but pre - pto" state, but the introduction of the powerwall+ may have changed things.

Just guessing (literally just throwing something at the wall), it sounds to me like your system is setup in a mode for "no grid export" which as we understand it is one of the setup options available for when a utility does not offer net metering and grid export isnt allowed.

Said another way, I dont think its going to magically change functions once you get PTO without someone doing something to change settings in your system.

I am seriously just guessing, though, so want to make that clear.

Thanks. Sounds like this is not normal behavior. I’ll call their support teams on Monday to get to the bottom of it.

I ran the diagnostic earlier today by connecting to the gateway as an installer and the meter test returned an error (no meter detected or something). It’s odd as I can see my energy consumption when I pull from the grid but that could be part of the reason as to why I’m operating in no export mode (can’t find the meter, defaults to assuming I’m in a no net metering area).

I quite like that it operates this way until I get PTO but given how long PTO can take and how long Tesla seems to be on the support side, I’ll try to get ahead of it. I’ll report back if I learn anything from the support team.

 

[bmah]

Hey, Bruce, what behavior have you heard for other pre-PTO systems? That if you enable the solar inverter to run it will send excess power to the grid, so you have to keep the solar turned off until PTO? (That was the case for me with our old PV system installed in 2000.) What the OP observes is what one would want to have in order to let the system operated legally before PTO. If the batteries are full the power from solar has to go somewhere or be scaled back.

I expect when our new system with Solar Roof is installed it will also have Powerwall+, Powerwall 2, and Gateway 2.

Hey Steve--

Yes, what I've read about for other pre-PTO Powerwall systems (presumably earlier versions) is that they'll try to send power to the grid, the way one would expect them to do post-PTO. Personally my solar and Powerwalls worked this way, although they were installed at different times, so my experience might not apply (also it was with older hardware...Fronius IG Plus from Solar City and Powerwall Gateway 1 from Tesla Energy). It didn't dawn upon me this might be another operating mode / configuration setting...no knowledge of this at all. So...???...

Bruce.

 

[oralallen82]

I believe this may be an operation until we get PTO I have 8.1K Installed last Thursday 8/12 and Powerwall + and 2 Power wall 2 for a total of 3 Yesterday after getting the batteries charged to 100% the system automatically scales the solar output to match energy need I only exported 100w back to the grid and that was due to solar production being raised to match house use and the house dropping load drastically so the inverter had to send the excess somewhere. I believe once we get PTO that'll change which is why I believe Tesla gets involved to notify you that you have PTO so they may enable the option to export back to the grid.

 

[Bitslizer]

Pw+ set up using the wizard in installer mode have an option to disable grid export (it say typically for other countries like Australia)

 

[Ikara-colt]

I believe this may be an operation until we get PTO I have 8.1K Installed last Thursday 8/12 and Powerwall + and 2 Power wall 2 for a total of 3 Yesterday after getting the batteries charged to 100% the system automatically scales the solar output to match energy need I only exported 100w back to the grid and that was due to solar production being raised to match house use and the house dropping load drastically so the inverter had to send the excess somewhere. I believe once we get PTO that'll change which is why I believe Tesla gets involved to notify you that you have PTO so they may enable the option to export back to the grid.

Interesting. Let me know if this changes for you once you get PTO. I just passed inspection so am likely 2-3 months from PTO still. Will let you know if things change post PTO (hopefully!)

 

[CrazyNavi]

I just got my system installed (8/24) and was testing the system for couple hours a day. However today I updated the tesla app and now you can see the msg in the new app " Your system is pending unitlity approval, and will not export to the grid", so tomorrow I will let it run till fully charge the PWs and see if stops.

 

[Vines]

I love reading this that PW+ systems which sounds like it can effectively curtail the PV system with software and without any dirty frequency shifting.

 

[jjrandorin]

I love reading this that PW+ systems which sounds like it can effectively curtail the PV system with software and without any dirty frequency shifting.

I posted in the "new app" thread I started that tesla also calls out specifically this behavior now, in their information pages. I took a screenshot of it. You can see it in post 5 in this thread:

Tesla app version 4.0.0 has app re design for both car and energy

Tesla app v4.0.0 has been released, and one of the changes is there is no backup only mode anymore. I had my PW on backup only and now in new app version it shows it as self powered with 100% reserve. So my guess is that the new Powerwall gateway version removed backup only mode and now this new...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[CrazyNavi]

I posted in the "new app" thread I started that tesla also calls out specifically this behavior now, in their information pages. I took a screenshot of it. You can see it in post 5 in this thread:

Tesla app version 4.0.0 has app re design for both car and energy

Tesla app v4.0.0 has been released, and one of the changes is there is no backup only mode anymore. I had my PW on backup only and now in new app version it shows it as self powered with 100% reserve. So my guess is that the new Powerwall gateway version removed backup only mode and now this new...

teslamotorsclub.com

I saw your post after posting. Interestingly the installer didn't know about it, and told me not to run the system more than couple of hours a day or PGE will detect the system and make a big deal out of it. I guess now with this SW update, should be good. As we know PTO will take sometime. This way, we can get what we paid for right away. Almost

 

[mountfield]

I have a new (non PTO) PW+ , but testing it my PW+ is not configured for this and it appears it will grid export

I wonder if this requires the system to be configured with the new software update - I may try that via installer mode to see if I can trigger this self-powered only mode

any others here that do have it enabled? How recently was your PW+ installed

 

[t3slaMS]

I have a new (non PTO) PW+ , but testing it my PW+ is not configured for this and it appears it will grid export

I wonder if this requires the system to be configured with the new software update - I may try that via installer mode to see if I can trigger this self-powered only mode

any others here that do have it enabled? How recently was your PW+ installed

Same here, my solar w/ PW+ system was installed last month and I don't see the "Self-Consumption Only" mode. I called support and they were not aware of this mode at all . I provided them the Tesla documentation link and after a 45min wait they created a case of tier 2 support. They said it may take few days to get back so hopefully it doesn't take too long for them to figure out whats going on.

 

[Ikara-colt]

I have a new (non PTO) PW+ , but testing it my PW+ is not configured for this and it appears it will grid export

I wonder if this requires the system to be configured with the new software update - I may try that via installer mode to see if I can trigger this self-powered only mode

any others here that do have it enabled? How recently was your PW+ installed

Mine was installed ~2 weeks ago. Did you check if you had the latest firmware on your PW+? You can connect directly to the gateway and log in as installer (just requires any email and to be close to the PW). I can check tomorrow what my firmware is.

No one at Tesla could explain my system’s behavior until the helpful app update came out, so not surprised support doesn’t know how to enable this mode…

 

[mountfield]

Mine was about 4 weeks ago. Currently on firmware 21.31.0

 

[t3slaMS]

They finally fixed it after 2 weeks. First tier 2 support told tier 1 that it should just work automatically. I had to share screenshots showing that it doesn't work and show that excess solar is getting sent back to the grid. 48hrs later self-consumption mode turned on.