The app doesn't have a way to check battery health - I believe if you dig into some of the API you can pull raw data - just haven't felt the need to yet. We've had our system for 2.5 years...haven't noticed them storing any less than when we had them new. Theoretically you could charge them up to full and discharge them down to 0 and see if the numbers match the 13.5 kWh usable for each Powerwall.
great video. Do you have a breakdown of your ROI numbers? i have 3 years of electrical usage data (actually I have more but 3 years seems to be good enough). I'm getting about an 8 year ROI on a Tesla system very similar to your size of 12kW. However the Powerwalls really throw my ROI out the window and I'm thinking about going straight panels and not powerwalls. Just interested in your numbers. I'm in Houston, TX so the sun shines here early and often so that helps my ROI numbers
Hi Roy! I haven't put together a video yet for payoff timelines but do intend on doing one soon. Our expensive rates play a big part, but I roughly estimate the system will have paid for itself after about 7 years. Last year's energy cost would be roughly $4900 (plus all the fees) assuming 90% off peak and 10% peak use for roughly 13,000 kWh of electricity. Along with the $850 or so earned from true up and VPP events. Base cost of around $40k for the system after tax credits. I'll try and do a full video soon, maybe I'll attach that onto the annual review. Now that we have the true up I can finally get that going!
@@TheMahkus I like to get perspective when I listen to our friends south of the boarder I live in Toronto Ontario and the Goverment here is doing a few right things to meet future demand on the grid. 1) They signed a deal with Hitachi to build a small nuclear plant as a add on to one of the existing plants. This new small plant with the nest technology will help to provide power to 10 million new homes east of Toronro They are also updating existing plants with new technology. Here in Canada there was a development of the CANDU Reactors which are very safe and can generate power on a consistent bases for 70 yrs going forward. However Canada’s population is only 40 million and the state of California is 42 million. But based on the coming population growth they plan this infrastructure for the coming 25 yrs out. However we have the same issues as everyone else.in terms of housing costs and high rental costs and demands . RW
I try to charge in the mornings after the sun starts coming up. Usually around 9 or 930 I can start charging at 32 amps and not draw on the Powerwalls too much (I don't like charging the cars off the powerwalls). But whenever is convenient, mainly. In the summer we make way more than enough to cover our daily house and EV needs. In the winter, solar usually covers our house needs. We draw from the grid during a few winter months but that's ok as we net exported 3800 kWh in 2022. My wife and I both have free workplace charging too so we tend to utilize that more in the winter when convenient.
I have an install video on the channel with the full details, but we have a 12.24 kW solar array (36 340 watt east facing Hanwha Q cell panels) with 3 Powerwalls (2 Powerwall + and 1 Powerwall 2). Let me know if you have any other questions!
I live in southern Illinois and own a 2022 MYP. Am considering investing in Tesla solar but will that make financial sense given I pay about 13 cents per kWh with AMEREN IP.
At 13 cents per kWh, you likely will have a hard time justifying solar. Unless you want to go solar for other reasons (clean electricity, battery backup, etc)
What was your average monthly power bill? What is your monthly system payment? When will it be paid for? Folks brag about no grid pay but NEVER share their monthly system payment. Imho, if the monthly system payment equals monthly grid bill you actually pay self. Once the systems paid off (average 7-10 yrs.) it’s hog heaven. What say you?
Our rates with PG&E approach 50 cents per kWh off peak, 60 cents peak in 2024 now. Summer bills would be around $1000, winter bills usually $300-400. For 2023 our costs would have been $7500 for the year if we paid PG&E instead of producing ourselves, so roughly $625 a month average bill. Monthly payment (when we had one) was $400 a month. It's paid off now. Our payback period for our system at around $7500 a year in energy costs is about 5-6 years.
Hi @Mahkus. Nice production numbers. I'm over in Rocklin. I have a 9.84kW nominal system -- no batteries -- and I have my PGE rate plan as TOU-C. I'm curious why you picked TOU-D. I hear from others that it's best to use TOU-C but am not 100% sure that's the way to go. I'd like to understand why you went with TOU-D. Thank! For my system, Enphase shows I generated 1.7MWh for May and 1.8Mhw for April. I don't have consumption monitors installed so I can't tell you my consumption numbers. I'm curious, the numbers you report, are they DC power or already converted to AC power?
Hey Lance! I went with E-TOU-D instead of C as we originally didn't have solar or batteries. It gave us less exposure to peak rates as I knew we'd be past the baseline allowance and into the expensive rates with two EVs. Now that we have solar & batteries, our panels are all east facing. We run in self powered mode, so we almost never use peak kWh with the Powerwalls running. With east facing solar, we produce maybe 5% of our daily output from 4pm on (and almost 0% after 5pm). We're also net exporters (so peak/offpeak doesn't matter when we're getting a flat wholesale rate). So the length of the peak period doesn't really matter to us with the powerwalls since we don't touch it anyways...and our yearly true up is a check to us so "rates" don't really matter as we just balance them out with NEM credits. I think that was rambly but hopefully makes sense? Haha. In regards to AC or DC for which numbers specifically?
@@TheMahkus Hah. I see. So you had TOU-D prior to solar install and you just stuck with it. 🤣🤣👍👍And I agree with you in that if one has enough solar production to cover one's own use, then it doesn't really matter which plan one is on as net metering just cancels your push and pull. I think it does matter to those households which still pull more from PGE than what they push back to PGE. For those households, if you try to reduce consumption during Peak times, you'll get paid more. But in your case -- as well as mine --you're always pushing way more to PGE than you're pulling, then it doesn't really matter. Do you agree? What I meant with AC or DC was: the production numbers you report in your videos, are they AC power production or DC power production? My understanding is that Tesla Solar panels are stringed together then piped into String Inverters to convert the DC energy from the PV panels into AC for home use or push to the grid. The production numbers you report, are they DC energy or inverted to AC energy already? I'm assuming it's AC numbers. On the Enphase microinverter installs, there is a little micro-inverter attached to each PV panel and it immediately converters from DC solar to AC power then is sent down to the combiner box and gateway to feed into the house and/or grid. I envy your battery system. When you had yours installed, was there any tax credits that you could take on the battery portion of the system? One can receive tax credits now, with the IRA legislation, but I'm curious if there were other tax credits for battery installs before the IRA. Thanks! Lance
Yep, I agree completely with you in regards to us being net exporters. We don't have to worry! I was under the assumption the numbers shown were AC. When Tesla updated the app recently and showed all power flowing "into" the inverter and then back out to the different locations (house, grid), figured they did that to clarify what was actually happening. I'd have to fully clarify that but that's my guess. We were able to go with the 26% federal tax credit during our install. There weren't any other incentives at the time, but we also were able to take advantage of 0.99% interest rates so I didn't need any more help making the decision :)
@@TheMahkus to capture more on solar production from 4 to 5 pm during summer months. Per your system it could be anywhere from 5-7kw from 4 to 5 PM of peak rate👌
Such a great explanation of the numbers your power system is producing. Thank you so much for the insight.
Thank you Ian! Glad you enjoyed!
Does the app let you check the battery health? How is the Battery health after all the use? How long have you had the Battery?
The app doesn't have a way to check battery health - I believe if you dig into some of the API you can pull raw data - just haven't felt the need to yet. We've had our system for 2.5 years...haven't noticed them storing any less than when we had them new.
Theoretically you could charge them up to full and discharge them down to 0 and see if the numbers match the 13.5 kWh usable for each Powerwall.
great video. Do you have a breakdown of your ROI numbers? i have 3 years of electrical usage data (actually I have more but 3 years seems to be good enough). I'm getting about an 8 year ROI on a Tesla system very similar to your size of 12kW. However the Powerwalls really throw my ROI out the window and I'm thinking about going straight panels and not powerwalls. Just interested in your numbers. I'm in Houston, TX so the sun shines here early and often so that helps my ROI numbers
Hi Roy! I haven't put together a video yet for payoff timelines but do intend on doing one soon. Our expensive rates play a big part, but I roughly estimate the system will have paid for itself after about 7 years. Last year's energy cost would be roughly $4900 (plus all the fees) assuming 90% off peak and 10% peak use for roughly 13,000 kWh of electricity. Along with the $850 or so earned from true up and VPP events. Base cost of around $40k for the system after tax credits.
I'll try and do a full video soon, maybe I'll attach that onto the annual review. Now that we have the true up I can finally get that going!
I am in Canada and our electricity rate after 7pm is 14 cents/kwh.
I'm jealous! That probably is what we pay in fees on top of the rate!
@@TheMahkus I like to get perspective when I listen to our friends south of the boarder
I live in Toronto Ontario and the Goverment here is doing a few right things to meet future demand on the grid.
1) They signed a deal with Hitachi to build a small nuclear plant as a add on to one of the existing plants.
This new small plant with the nest technology will help to provide power to 10 million new homes east of Toronro
They are also updating existing plants with new technology.
Here in Canada there was a development of the CANDU Reactors which are very safe and can generate power on a consistent bases
for 70 yrs going forward.
However Canada’s population is only 40 million and the state of California is 42 million.
But based on the coming population growth they plan this infrastructure for the coming 25 yrs out.
However we have the same issues as everyone else.in terms of housing costs and high rental costs and demands .
RW
What time of day do you usually charge your vehicles? Is the solar enough to power your home and charge your EV?
I try to charge in the mornings after the sun starts coming up. Usually around 9 or 930 I can start charging at 32 amps and not draw on the Powerwalls too much (I don't like charging the cars off the powerwalls). But whenever is convenient, mainly. In the summer we make way more than enough to cover our daily house and EV needs. In the winter, solar usually covers our house needs. We draw from the grid during a few winter months but that's ok as we net exported 3800 kWh in 2022. My wife and I both have free workplace charging too so we tend to utilize that more in the winter when convenient.
Where can I find info on the system
I have an install video on the channel with the full details, but we have a 12.24 kW solar array (36 340 watt east facing Hanwha Q cell panels) with 3 Powerwalls (2 Powerwall + and 1 Powerwall 2). Let me know if you have any other questions!
Great Staff
Thanks Big Joe!
I live in southern Illinois and own a 2022 MYP. Am considering investing in Tesla solar but will that make financial sense given I pay about 13 cents per kWh with AMEREN IP.
At 13 cents per kWh, you likely will have a hard time justifying solar. Unless you want to go solar for other reasons (clean electricity, battery backup, etc)
Shouldnt it be 400w a panel?
Tesla used smaller panels back then versus what they install now
What was your average monthly power bill? What is your monthly system payment? When will it be paid for? Folks brag about no grid pay but NEVER share their monthly system payment. Imho, if the monthly system payment equals monthly grid bill you actually pay self. Once the systems paid off (average 7-10 yrs.) it’s hog heaven. What say you?
Our rates with PG&E approach 50 cents per kWh off peak, 60 cents peak in 2024 now. Summer bills would be around $1000, winter bills usually $300-400. For 2023 our costs would have been $7500 for the year if we paid PG&E instead of producing ourselves, so roughly $625 a month average bill.
Monthly payment (when we had one) was $400 a month. It's paid off now. Our payback period for our system at around $7500 a year in energy costs is about 5-6 years.
Hi @Mahkus. Nice production numbers. I'm over in Rocklin. I have a 9.84kW nominal system -- no batteries -- and I have my PGE rate plan as TOU-C. I'm curious why you picked TOU-D. I hear from others that it's best to use TOU-C but am not 100% sure that's the way to go. I'd like to understand why you went with TOU-D. Thank!
For my system, Enphase shows I generated 1.7MWh for May and 1.8Mhw for April. I don't have consumption monitors installed so I can't tell you my consumption numbers.
I'm curious, the numbers you report, are they DC power or already converted to AC power?
Hey Lance! I went with E-TOU-D instead of C as we originally didn't have solar or batteries. It gave us less exposure to peak rates as I knew we'd be past the baseline allowance and into the expensive rates with two EVs.
Now that we have solar & batteries, our panels are all east facing. We run in self powered mode, so we almost never use peak kWh with the Powerwalls running. With east facing solar, we produce maybe 5% of our daily output from 4pm on (and almost 0% after 5pm). We're also net exporters (so peak/offpeak doesn't matter when we're getting a flat wholesale rate). So the length of the peak period doesn't really matter to us with the powerwalls since we don't touch it anyways...and our yearly true up is a check to us so "rates" don't really matter as we just balance them out with NEM credits. I think that was rambly but hopefully makes sense? Haha.
In regards to AC or DC for which numbers specifically?
@@TheMahkus Hah. I see. So you had TOU-D prior to solar install and you just stuck with it. 🤣🤣👍👍And I agree with you in that if one has enough solar production to cover one's own use, then it doesn't really matter which plan one is on as net metering just cancels your push and pull. I think it does matter to those households which still pull more from PGE than what they push back to PGE. For those households, if you try to reduce consumption during Peak times, you'll get paid more. But in your case -- as well as mine --you're always pushing way more to PGE than you're pulling, then it doesn't really matter. Do you agree?
What I meant with AC or DC was: the production numbers you report in your videos, are they AC power production or DC power production? My understanding is that Tesla Solar panels are stringed together then piped into String Inverters to convert the DC energy from the PV panels into AC for home use or push to the grid. The production numbers you report, are they DC energy or inverted to AC energy already? I'm assuming it's AC numbers.
On the Enphase microinverter installs, there is a little micro-inverter attached to each PV panel and it immediately converters from DC solar to AC power then is sent down to the combiner box and gateway to feed into the house and/or grid.
I envy your battery system. When you had yours installed, was there any tax credits that you could take on the battery portion of the system? One can receive tax credits now, with the IRA legislation, but I'm curious if there were other tax credits for battery installs before the IRA.
Thanks!
Lance
Yep, I agree completely with you in regards to us being net exporters. We don't have to worry!
I was under the assumption the numbers shown were AC. When Tesla updated the app recently and showed all power flowing "into" the inverter and then back out to the different locations (house, grid), figured they did that to clarify what was actually happening. I'd have to fully clarify that but that's my guess.
We were able to go with the 26% federal tax credit during our install. There weren't any other incentives at the time, but we also were able to take advantage of 0.99% interest rates so I didn't need any more help making the decision :)
@@TheMahkus Oh wow. NICE on the 0.99% loan. That IS an awesome deal. How many years on that 0.99%? Sweet deal!
10 years. About $2000 to finance $50000 for ten years, lol.
36 panels total?
36 panels at 340 watts each, yep. Hanwha Q cells
Love the video :) but not the echo lol
Noted, haha. This one might be tougher to solve. Next month will likely be back out by the Powerwalls. Another big echoey room though :)
Rate Tou-c is much better with solar than TOU-D. FYI
I'm curious as to your reason why...we sre net exporters so it is a moot point for us.
@@TheMahkus to capture more on solar production from 4 to 5 pm during summer months. Per your system it could be anywhere from 5-7kw from 4 to 5 PM of peak rate👌