Residential Solar

Your solar is wired to run 100% of all the same things?
Is that the same meter reading it from both sources?
I know I've heard people squawk about their electric bill going up after the power company replaced the meter...they say the new meter reads high, and the company says the old one was reading low. In some cases the new meter did seem suspect...

 

Yes, the solar panels connect to the Powerwall system, which then connects to the grid interconnect. So it powers the house and eventually will backfeed to the grid.

EDIT.. the grid interconnect communicates with the Powerwall system, so I am under the impression that is what is doing the measuring between the solar system, including battery, and what is coming in from the grid. /EDIT

While it is possible, I have played with it a bunch, and see consistent results.

For instance, I just started some laundry, and while still off grid the house was pulling 5.8kw. I reconnect to the grid, and it jumps up to 10.7kw. nothing else changed.

A FULLY off grid system is really starting to look appealing to me.

Also, it says that my system is not producing at total capacity as the system is not yet approved to export energy to the grid.

That may be weeks away.

 

Somehow I find it hard to believe that running off the battery is actually more efficient. For one, that powerwall consumes some of the electricity itself. The powerwall may be misreporting. IDK, maybe it is magic and it really does do that.

I would hold off on your enthusiasm about going entirely off grid until you see what winter brings. Heck, I have had such dark skies the last 8 days, that my rooftop solar has not produced very well and 3 of those days I ran a net deficit (most days I run about 6kwh for usage - except the day I use my drier, which adds another 1.5-2.0 kwh). My separately charged battery stations have not gained much charge either from the 2,000w of stand alone solar panels - and the bad winter sun angles haven't even arrived.

That being said, I hope that your system fulfills all your needs, wants and more and I'm just being a big old stick in the mud!

 

I am not the expert in this topic BUT I wonder how much that has to due with sun angle as we reach fall
I will verify with neighbor who has them on mobile trackers that adjust.
If an interest is expressed

 

They say 35% increase over fixed I called; more collected with same panels by following sun. Of course you need the land to do that which is not possible in all applications.

really cool to see them go vertically to remove snow

 

Well, I don't believe in magic, and the system does show that energy is being diverted to the Powerwall system. But my electric bill has increased by about 25% since the new meter was installed last year.

As to whether the cost increase is due to increased usage, or increase in price, I'd have to comb through the bills to determine.

Now, if the system is metering on the house side, then I cannot account for the increase in usage. Only that it does vary by a fair margin.

...

Nah, you are keeping things in perspective.
I appreciate the input from someone who has been doing this for a few years.

The only expectation I have for this system, is to pretty much eliminate my electric bill, and provide power no matter what happens with the grid.

I may never see full ROI from the system, but that's not why I went this route.

This is primarily about relative self reliance, and a buffer against the ever increasing prices imposed by the electric company.

If I'm ever to retire, I need to mitigate my expenses as much as possible, while I'm still bringing in paychecks.

I was never taught how to properly save and/or invest. So I'm playing catch up in the later years.


We do what we must.

 

Those were the main reasons I had my solar system installed - effectively pre paid for my electricity while I was working, while buffering against electricity cost increases.

 

I've been following along. I just had my smart meter installed a few weeks ago and I'm keeping an eye on it to see what it looks like. National Grid here in MA, from their website I can download my usage into a spreadsheet for as much of a date range as I want, broken down into 15 minute entries. I do notice the amount of usage going up and down at night after we've gone to bed for the night. I sure can't figure it. They're isn't anything in the house that would be cycling in the middle of the night, other than the fridge. I need to look at the data a little more closely when I have time.

Electric rates will never go down. I figure the less we rely directly on the utility companies, the better off we'll be. I hadn't thought of solar as locking in the price of electricity.

 

That only works if you buy the system outright and don't lease (from my understanding, leases generally go up every year - but that could be incorrect or may be just which lease plan you go with).

I had been saving for a detached garage. When the price of that went up 33% when I had saved the money (and then went up even more in the next 6 months). Keeping the frost and snow off my vehicle was not worth the price that they wanted for a simple, 1 car garage, so I pivoted to buying my solar system (which was about the same price as the original garage build estimate - before tax credits).

 

Well, today I got permission to export electric back to the grid.

While a bit late in the year to help much on the electric bill, it's better than nothing.

EDIT.. no resizing on that screenshot. /EDIT

 

That is awesome. And you got great export.

Funny, my net export yesterday was nearly the same at 12.9kwh. BUT, big difference is that I only produced 17.2kwh. If my neighbor's trees to the E & SE would shed their leaves, that would be great (my trees are mostly leafless - but their trees are protected by mine, so are still green)

My system was commissioned November 16, 2022, so I had to wait until March of 2023 before it fully covered my usage and my last bill was something like $13.

 

Hey all,

One week in, and have had a string of nice sunny days recently. Last Wednesday (first day exporting) was low, and Friday was a bust. But otherwise it's not too shabby for this time of the year.

I get good full sun from about 10AM to 3PM for now.

EDIT still have the evening usage yet for tonight that isn't included in that chart.
/EDIT



EDIT2..
This is the chart for today. You can see that the solar portion is pretty much zero now.



So, the import portion will rise a bit over the rest of the day/night.

But hey, it'll be interesting to see how well it does next summer.
/EDIT2

 

Tough time of year for solar production. I've had a string of 3 sunny days and produced 49.2 kwh during that time. On sunny days in the middle of summer, I usually get 40-49 kwh per day. The longer nights don't help on the import side - although there is still net export. 2 more months and I'll wish I had numbers like I do right now