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Tesla Virtual Power Plant in CA
- Thread starter power.saver
- Start date
Wow, yet another VPP Event. These are far more frequent than I anticipated. I figured VPP Events would help support the grid during Flex Alerts or more critical events. I didn't expect them to become a daily peak hour service. $1K/Mwh is well beyond current wholesale rates. I am curious whether this run of serial events is for testing purposes or (highly speculative here) whether Tesla has a deal to help bail out Vistra's battery backup at Moss Landing and any clean power obligations related to this facility. The Moss Landing battery backup was mostly offline last month following a thermal event (and it may still be offline). A couple of side notes, my PW did top itself off from the grid in preparation for the first of the VPP Events last week. I also would prefer that they drop the discharge rate from 4Kwh down to 2Kwh so it can run through the entire Event and because I would prefer less strain on the PW.
Incredulocious
LEAF → RAV4EV → Model 3 → Model Y
I’m near Santa Cruz and have been signed up with the VPP plan from the start but I have yet to see even one of these events with my Powerwalls. I’m on PG&E and with the Central Coast Community Energy program (previously Monterey Bay Community Power). My reserve is often set at 30% (though at 40% right now following the recent extended outage (2+ days) from the storm.) Switched back to self-powered from time-of-use a couple of months ago because I didn’t like how often it would use grid power unnecessarily overnight.
Don’t know what’s different with where you are.
Even more interesting. I am likewise on PG&E and Central Coast Community Energy. Tesla really seems to enjoy discharging my PW. Santa Cruz and Monterey both have routes to Moss Landing. The Event started at 4pm.
charlesj
Active Member
Incredulocious
LEAF → RAV4EV → Model 3 → Model Y
Haven’t seen any VPP notifications but also haven’t seen any unexpected behavior: charging up during first half of day, exporting in afternoon and running on battery until late night. All as expected.
I live in Stockton. I hope the vpp events keep happening. I'm racking up $10-$20 every time it happens. If it continues every day for a year, it would pay off a powerwall.Maybe we will actually have a day without a vpp in Marin today.
My guess is the VPP events of last week were mostly test events, and that in general these are not likely to be routine or frequent happenings. Again, just my guess.
Bruce.
PS. @astrorob I have gotten notifications for VPP events on the iOS mobile app, but I wouldn't necessarily say this was "reliably".
Just my opinion...
I think you might want to reduce your expectations about how often VPP events will occur (these are likely to be infrequent, not daily) and how much you'd be able to make per event (particularly during the wintertime when most people have reduced daily solar production). Also note the current VPP program for people in the PG&E service area is a "pilot" program. There's no guarantee that it'll be made permanent (based on some wording in the agreement in the app, I would guess it will last through February unless it's extended).
In short, this VPP program isn't going to turn your Powerwalls into ATM machines.
Bruce.
The first check will be mailed at the end of February. That's what I read in the program description in the app.
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