Would you get powerwalls in my situation?

[whitecoathub]

Hi All,
I wanted to get your feedback on if you would get powerwalls in my situation. Located in San Jose, currently have a 8.16 kW system (currently on NEM 2.0). I just had a site/home assessment approval for an additional 9.6kW with 3 powerwalls.

1) I am currently on essential circuit block so shouldn't be affected by rolling blackouts. Power has been out for maybe total of 3 hours over the past 3 years. I have lived in this area for 30+ years and never had a power outage for more than 8 hours.

2) Solar and PTO will be on NEM 2.0 for the new system. With the new system (adding another EV), i will be overproducing so TOU rates wouldn't matter until 15-20 years out.

3) I assume once I'm off of TOU, obtaining powerwalls (without additional solar) would be much easier than now. In addition to better technology.

Would you get Powerwalls in my situation? Thanks!

 

[h2ofun]

Hi All,
I wanted to get your feedback on if you would get powerwalls in my situation. Located in San Jose, currently have a 8.16 kW system (currently on NEM 2.0). I just had a site/home assessment approval for an additional 9.6kW with 3 powerwalls.

1) I am currently on essential circuit block so shouldn't be affected by rolling blackouts. Power has been out for maybe total of 3 hours over the past 3 years. I have lived in this area for 30+ years and never had a power outage for more than 8 hours.

2) Solar and PTO will be on NEM 2.0 for the new system. With the new system (adding another EV), i will be overproducing so TOU rates wouldn't matter until 15-20 years out.

3) I assume once I'm off of TOU, obtaining powerwalls (without additional solar) would be much easier than now. In addition to better technology.

Would you get Powerwalls in my situation? Thanks!

Its just about the money. If you have it to spend, with no real return, why not. I currently have 5, and try to get 2 more. Technically, I need none of them.

 

[RKCRLR]

I doubt it would be would worth your investment to get Powerwalls at this point, especially if you think you will be a net producer. I'd wait wait to see how things evolve, it may be worth it in the future.

 

[patrick40363]

Hi All,
I wanted to get your feedback on if you would get powerwalls in my situation. Located in San Jose, currently have a 8.16 kW system (currently on NEM 2.0). I just had a site/home assessment approval for an additional 9.6kW with 3 powerwalls.

1) I am currently on essential circuit block so shouldn't be affected by rolling blackouts. Power has been out for maybe total of 3 hours over the past 3 years. I have lived in this area for 30+ years and never had a power outage for more than 8 hours.

2) Solar and PTO will be on NEM 2.0 for the new system. With the new system (adding another EV), i will be overproducing so TOU rates wouldn't matter until 15-20 years out.

3) I assume once I'm off of TOU, obtaining powerwalls (without additional solar) would be much easier than now. In addition to better technology.

Would you get Powerwalls in my situation? Thanks!

Yes.

 

[sunwarriors]

I don't think we've had any power outages recently and I keep saying there is probably no ROI on batteries, but if you have spare $$, it's nice having that peace of mind to have PW or any energy storage. Climate events seem to be getting worst (Ian coming to Florida), Fiona just smashed Puerto Rico, etc etc.

I really do think it's simply do you have $$ to throw here vs. overthinking ROI. I assumed 0 ROI and am still glad to have it since I feel it gives me a bit more contol no matter what the IOUs do to power prices.

If I had to do it all again on a new custom property, I'd probably opt for 4x batteries, a generator and hope V2H comes in 5 years to cover long cloudy days.

 

[h2ofun]

I don't think we've had any power outages recently and I keep saying there is probably no ROI on batteries, but if you have spare $$, it's nice having that peace of mind to have PW or any energy storage. Climate events seem to be getting worst (Ian coming to Florida), Fiona just smashed Puerto Rico, etc etc.

I really do think it's simply do you have $$ to throw here vs. overthinking ROI. I assumed 0 ROI and am still glad to have it since I feel it gives me a bit more contol no matter what the IOUs do to power prices.

If I had to do it all again on a new custom property, I'd probably opt for 4x batteries, a generator and hope V2H comes in 5 years to cover long cloudy days.

Yep, got 30kw of solar, 5 batteries, hoping to go to 7, a 22kw generator, and still looking for a technical/cost effective V2H solution. Its all a game. It is fun telling folks how I cool and heat my home and have a real negative TOTAL energy bill. I even offer free EV charging to folks.

 

[jboy210]

I don't know if we can depend on electrical power being as reliable as it has been in previous years. Prior to 5 or so years ago, in the 20+ previous years we had maybe 3 outages and none lasting more than 2 hours. However, since that time grid reliability as gotten much worse. We know can expect 5+ outages a year. And some of these have lasted more than a day. The longest one was caused by a single car hitting a power pole which took out power to several hundred homes. But that was the only accident triggered outage. The rest were weather and PSPS shutdowns. And even though we are in Block 50 we lost power in PSPS shutdowns. Just not as earlier as the people a few streets away outside of Block 50. So, I don't think one should assume being in Block 50 ensures no power outages. If push comes to shove, they are going put residents in the dark to ensure the police station and hospital have power.

Because of these outages we went with Powerwalls and have been very glad we did. Since getting them, we have had only a few minutes without power in one incident where things started arcing and popping somewhere (we could hear it, but not see it). And in this incident turning off and on the main breaker caused the power to be restored since the TEG could clearly see the grid was out and shifted to using the Powerwalls.

 

[RKCRLR]

I don't know if we can depend on electrical power being as reliable as it has been in previous years. Prior to 5 or so years ago, in the 20+ previous years we had maybe 3 outages and none lasting more than 2 hours. However, since that time grid reliability as gotten much worse. We know can expect 5+ outages a year. And some of these have lasted more than a day. The longest one was caused by a single car hitting a power pole which took out power to several hundred homes. But that was the only accident triggered outage. The rest were weather and PSPS shutdowns. And even though we are in Block 50 we lost power in PSPS shutdowns. Just not as earlier as the people a few streets away outside of Block 50. So, I don't think one should assume being in Block 50 ensures no power outages. If push comes to shove, they are going put residents in the dark to ensure the police station and hospital have power.

Because of these outages we went with Powerwalls and have been very glad we did. Since getting them, we have had only a few minutes without power in one incident where things started arcing and popping somewhere (we could hear it, but not see it). And in this incident turning off and on the main breaker caused the power to be restored since the TEG could clearly see the grid was out and shifted to using the Powerwalls.

Yep, I definitely have more and longer power outages. With PG&E's new circuit breaker approach in the summer what used to be a short outage can last hours or nearly a day. They used to try several times to "burn" off whatever was hitting the line. Now they don't try to restore the power before they have inspected all the lines. If the power outage happens in late afternoon or evening they wait until the helicopter can fly the next day to inspect the lines.

 

[jboy210]

Yep, got 30kw of solar, 5 batteries, hoping to go to 7, a 22kw generator, and still looking for a technical/cost effective V2H solution. Its all a game. It is fun telling folks how I cool and heat my home and have a real negative TOTAL energy bill. I even offer free EV charging to folks.

Ok. I am bringing my EV Hummer, 210 kWh battery, over to your house to top off for free.

 

[sunwarriors]

I don't know if we can depend on electrical power being as reliable as it has been in previous years. Prior to 5 or so years ago, in the 20+ previous years we had maybe 3 outages and none lasting more than 2 hours. However, since that time grid reliability as gotten much worse. We know can expect 5+ outages a year. And some of these have lasted more than a day. The longest one was caused by a single car hitting a power pole which took out power to several hundred homes. But that was the only accident triggered outage. The rest were weather and PSPS shutdowns. And even though we are in Block 50 we lost power in PSPS shutdowns. Just not as earlier as the people a few streets away outside of Block 50. So, I don't think one should assume being in Block 50 ensures no power outages. If push comes to shove, they are going put residents in the dark to ensure the police station and hospital have power.

Because of these outages we went with Powerwalls and have been very glad we did. Since getting them, we have had only a few minutes without power in one incident where things started arcing and popping somewhere (we could hear it, but not see it). And in this incident turning off and on the main breaker caused the power to be restored since the TEG could clearly see the grid was out and shifted to using the Powerwalls.

What I find interesting with a lot of comments is everyone who has PWs/batteries are usually pretty happy putting the $$ there. Maybe it's the folks in this forum (biased sample), but me not having had any power outages, I'd do it again in a heartbeat and would even want to go to 4x batteries possibly.

I think that says something from people who actually spent the $$ on them.

The biggest place I see that hates for PWs/batteries is on reddit. There is always the ROI talk.

My TLR suggestion has pretty much been leaning towards if you need ROI to get batteries, simply don't get them. If you are financially able and won't miss it too much to dump $20k there vs. wasting it on something else, then yeah, get some. I think most of the folks here are pretty glad to have done that and every year, another place talks about a 1 in 100 year storm/event/disaster/fire/etc (Ian now for Tampa). Every year, there is another once in a lifetime event. Polar freeze in TX was just 1 year ago (2021).

If any global conflict starts up in the next 10-20 years, I think we can all agree infrastructure might be attacked (Nord Stream just got taken out, by who? no clue yet).

 

[jboy210]

What I find interesting with a lot of comments is everyone who has PWs/batteries are usually pretty happy putting the $$ there. Maybe it's the folks in this forum (biased sample), but me not having had any power outages, I'd do it again in a heartbeat and would even want to go to 4x batteries possibly.

I think that says something from people who actually spent the $$ on them.

The biggest place I see that hates for PWs/batteries is on reddit. There is always the ROI talk.

My TLR suggestion has pretty much been leaning towards if you need ROI to get batteries, simply don't get them. If you are financially able and won't miss it too much to dump $20k there vs. wasting it on something else, then yeah, get some. I think most of the folks here are pretty glad to have done that and every year, another place talks about a 1 in 100 year storm/event/disaster/fire/etc (Ian now for Tampa). Every year, there is another once in a lifetime event. Polar freeze in TX was just 1 year ago (2021).

If any global conflict starts up in the next 10-20 years, I think we can all agree infrastructure might be attacked (Nord Stream just got taken out, by who? no clue yet).

I agree with your comments and appreciate the references to weather related events. So many things that were 1,000 year or 100 probability events seem to be happening more frequently. And we cannot control the weather and can only prepare for some of these weather, and manmade, events.

 

[whitecoathub]

Thanks all. I've decided to not focus on ROI since there is none. I will get 2 PWs. My only other question is: Would you get excess solar just because it's cheaper to get it all now vs adding on later? I think I'll be oversized by 4-5KW even with the addition of another EV.

 

[jjrandorin]

Thanks all. I've decided to not focus on ROI since there is none. I will get 2 PWs. My only other question is: Would you get excess solar just because it's cheaper to get it all now vs adding on later? I think I'll be oversized by 4-5KW even with the addition of another EV.

Yeah, I would get as much solar as you either can fit on your roof, or can afford. its much harder to add later, and "later" will likely be subject to NEM 3.0 rules which may not be "favorable" to solar.

We are expecting people on NEM 2 to be grandfathered in for 15 years unless something changes (over simplification I am sure) but I still think more is better. People are using more power, not less, and you can swap more of your devices to electric if you have additional PV.

 

[ucmndd]

If you have no real backup needs to speak of, and no financial benefit for time shifting / rate arbitrage, I don’t really see the benefit or point. Stapling 200 hundred dollar bills to your garage wall would be just as effective of a conversation piece.

 

[RKCRLR]

Yeah, I would get as much solar as you either can fit on your roof, or can afford. its much harder to add later, and "later" will likely be subject to NEM 3.0 rules which may not be "favorable" to solar.

We are expecting people on NEM 2 to be grandfathered in for 15 years unless something changes (over simplification I am sure) but I still think more is better. People are using more power, not less, and you can swap more of your devices to electric if you have additional PV.

And, if you upgrade later (increase the size by more than 10%) under NEM3 your whole system will be moved to NEM3 unless you pay for a separate meter to keep the old system under NEM2. But your grandfathering date for the NEM3 will be the same date of the original install so your forced move to NEM4 based on your original install date (unless they change the rules from what they are now).

 

[h2ofun]

Thanks all. I've decided to not focus on ROI since there is none. I will get 2 PWs. My only other question is: Would you get excess solar just because it's cheaper to get it all now vs adding on later? I think I'll be oversized by 4-5KW even with the addition of another EV.

IMO, buy as much as you can fit on your roof that PGE will approve!!!!! Going back later to add is either impossible or WAY more expensive

 

[cwied]

I don't think I've ever seen anybody post to say they wish they hadn't gotten so much solar. I certainly wish I'd gotten a little more.