Tesla Virtual Power Plant in CA

[jhn_]

do they pay you via check sent in the mail? how much you were compensated each time? just curious on the potential of joining...

Yeah it’s ridiculously old school. Tesla sends us a check in the mail twice a year.

The winter “season” payment is $40/kw provided at average peak distribution. That is how many kw your system can output during an event on average for the “season”. So for our 3 Powerwalls we can output 15kw during an event so our winter payment is $40 x 15kw = $600.

Summer season is better as the payment is $180/kw and our average is usually higher than 15kw since the solar in the summer can add another 2-3kw on average. So the summer payment is something north of $180 x 15kw = $2700.

 

[clos000]

So weird, was in a Virtual Power Plant event yesterday and it didn't use any power from the PowerWall but I was paying peak rates from the Grid the entire time... :|

 

[bmah]

So weird, was in a Virtual Power Plant event yesterday and it didn't use any power from the PowerWall but I was paying peak rates from the Grid the entire time... :|

You were IN a virtual power plant event or was the Powerwall system PREPARING for a virtual power plant event? I’ve only seen the preparation so far, someone mentioned upthread something about 6-9 pm tonight.

Between the documentation and what I’m observing I think preparation is effectively setting the reserve percentage to 100% (but not grid charging as in Stormwatch mode) to have as much energy to back feed the grid during the VPP event.

Bruce.

 

[ojuarez01]

My powerwalls are also preparing for a grid event tonight although I didn't get any notifications. I'm not sure if this is a true event or just a testing of the system. From the Tesla info page on the PG&E VPP:

"Tesla and PG&E may also call events at other times. These additional events may be necessary to prove the effectiveness of VPPs and ensure that participants have an opportunity to earn compensation in the Tesla & PG&E VPP pilot, even if no grid emergencies occur."

 

[bmah]

And this is what the VPP event actually looks like when the Powerwalls are discharging into the grid:



I didn't get any notifications from the app about this.

I would guess that this is one of those test events...the CAISO app shows demand nowhere near capacity.

Bruce.

 

[ojuarez01]

And this is what the VPP event actually looks like when the Powerwalls are discharging into the grid:

View attachment 723454

I didn't get any notifications from the app about this.

I would guess that this is one of those test events...the CAISO app shows demand nowhere near capacity.

Bruce.

Same here. Discharging at almost 10kW for 2 powerwalls.

 

[bmah]

Same here. Discharging at almost 10kW for 2 powerwalls.

That’s interesting. You have fewer Powerwalls than me but your system is discharging more power. Wonder why that is. I have an older Gateway 1, could that be relevant?
Bruce.

 

[ojuarez01]

That’s interesting. You have fewer Powerwalls than me but your system is discharging more power. Wonder why that is. I have an older Gateway 1, could that be relevant?
Bruce.

I have the ugly gateway 1. Haha. But that is interesting. What rate are you discharging? What's the max you've ever seen your system discharge?

 

[bmah]

I have the ugly gateway 1. Haha. But that is interesting. What rate are you discharging? What's the max you've ever seen your system discharge?

At this moment it's 7.6kW out of the batteries, 5.5kW to the grid + 2.1kW to the house.

I think the most I've seen my batteries discharge was a little more than 10kW, during the summer with both our AC units running (the energy in the batteries doesn't last very long at that rate). In any case more than they're doing now.

Upon some examination of the data, the most I've seen going to the grid this evening is 5.5kW, so that might be the limiting factor.

Bruce.

 

[Zorg]

The question is how do you use 2.1KW at 8pm?

 

[charlesj]

The question is how do you use 2.1KW at 8pm?

Late dinner cooking? Micro on? Watching a screen projected movie?

 

[GenSao]

Same here. Discharging at almost 10kW for 2 powerwalls.

This was my first event. The 2X Powerwalls discharged 22.5 kW at a rate of nearly 10 kW (9.6 to 9.8).

 

[Zorg]

Late dinner cooking? Micro on? Watching a screen projected movie?

Video gaming LAN tournament.

 

[tfan2018]

This was my first event. The 2X Powerwalls discharged 22.5 kW at a rate of nearly 10 kW (9.6 to 9.8).

View attachment 723512View attachment 723513View attachment 723514

is the blue house with lightning icon energy exported for Tesla virtual power plant?

 

[GenSao]

is the blue house with lightning icon energy exported for Tesla virtual power plant?

The blue house with lightning icon (1st icon in row) is the home component of the Energy Data graphs. The active graph view has a small dot underneath, Read about Energy Data on Tesla's website.

The 1st image shows the Grid Component (4th icon in row) with the energy exported to the grid for the Tesla virtual power plant in green from 6:00 p.m. to nearly 9:00 p.m. There is an average (peak) export to the grind of 8.8 kW per hour.

 

[ojuarez01]

Is there any place we can track our cumulative export during grid events?

I also received a notification that another grid event will take place today. It's been a really cloudy day and my batteries didn't get to fully charge.

 

[clos000]

You were IN a virtual power plant event or was the Powerwall system PREPARING for a virtual power plant event? I’ve only seen the preparation so far, someone mentioned upthread something about 6-9 pm tonight.

Between the documentation and what I’m observing I think preparation is effectively setting the reserve percentage to 100% (but not grid charging as in Stormwatch mode) to have as much energy to back feed the grid during the VPP event.

Bruce.

Hi Bruce,

You are correct, it was preparing for a VPP event the entire time and it basically stopped the PW from powering the home for this preparation.

Right now it's in the VPP event again tonight and it's actually outputting 7-8kW into the grid. So exciting.

 

[bmah]

Right now it's in the VPP event again tonight and it's actually outputting 7-8kW into the grid. So exciting.

Cool! I actually got the notification this time, but due to very little solar production today, I don't have anything to feed the grid.

Bruce.

 

[ThomasD]

Can the powerwalls power your house and send power to the grid at the same time?

 

[Redhill_qik]

Can the powerwalls power your house and send power to the grid at the same time?

Yes, and there really isn't any other way. The Powerwalls and your house load are both the same side of the utility meter, so any power that is exported from the Powerwall is going to be used by the house load first and then any extra will go through the meter and out the grid.

Now, if your house load exceeds the Powerwall's export capacity of 5.0 kWh/Powerwall then all of the energy will go to your house and you will be importing from the grid for the remainder.