Rochester

iTrader: (9)

Well, yes and no. The tax credit is still $7500, and now it can apply directly to the sale, instead of existing as a federal rebate, so that's nice. However, there are constraints around eligibility which makes this tax credit confusing, having to do with where materials are sourced (domestic or off-shore). I haven't committed all the details to full understanding, just pointing out that the new EV tax credit isn't the same as the old EV tax credit.


We've also been considering a battery backup for the house, or some kind of hybrid battery/generator system. We lose power about 5 to 10 time a year as well, and when it happens in the dead of winter while living in Western NY... burr-r-r-r.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

I’d love a powerwall but with our ambient temps v reliability and the cost upfront etc… not in the cards. It is annoying when I need to run an extension cord to our neighbors genny to power our fridge during the annual hurricane 3-4 days of no power.

I pay him in diesel for said genny and beer. It works out lol.

STownSaint

Maybe a long shot, but if anyone has any specific questions on home EVSE, rooftop solar, home energy storage, backup power gensets, auto transfer switches, etc please feel free to shoot me a PM. Worked for a power company at one point, was involved with helping customers interconnect all of these devices (the industry term is “distributed energy resources” or DER for short) with the grid.

Here’s a decent list of incentives for different things: https://www.dsireusa.org

Power companies in most parts of the US will be increasing incentives for customers to use these DER to help support the grid (eg, use energy storage to reduce usages from the grid during times of peak demand). BUT energy companies are also highly regulated monopolies, so not holding my breath that they’ll be quick about it…

STownSaint

Alternatives to the Powerwall include the Sonnen Core and LGChem RESU, might be worth checking out since the Tesla has the brand premium

Selym

Think about that for a minute or two.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

It's very much a tell-me-you-think-solar-will-kill-your-monopoly-without-telling-me-that-solar-will-kill-your-monopoly.

Solar here has to be installed by licensed solar contractors (OK, fine) and wired up by a licensed electrician (also OK) - whether 1 panel or a roof full. So no slip-the-guy-a-hundred to get it hooked up to failover rather than just output to the grid.

OTOH, generators can be hooked up to immediately switch over. So that equipment, designed for residential whole-house power, do exist. Hmm. I think I see a solution here.

Rochester

iTrader: (9)

I would imagine solar panels would charge a household battery backup, with excess fed back into the grid for credit. I also imagine a generator in the mix, to charge that battery system during an outage. But that's just what I imagine I'd like to have. It's probably all terribly expensive, and more confusing than my simple interpretation.

Absinthe

Not to mention it takes a lot of space. My father had the Solar/Generator option for his retirement home. He was about 95% off the grid except during long stretches of dark days during the winter when he didn't want to deplete his diesel stockpile. He also had 4 acres to play with too. Solar on our current house would be a no brainer, but the generator and power wall just wouldn't fit on the lot footprint

BULL

So funny thing, in Puerto Rico living of the grid is practiced, unsure about how "legal" it is however it's common practice for a lot of country side houses to start messing with solar.
From what I've gathered from many has been that almost everyone under estimates battery size and average consumption.
They're using ALL types of batteries over there for storage and many are learning the hard way about types of batteries vs size vs ventilation vs shelf life vs depletion % affecting longevity.

Having this experience keeps me stable from the conspiracy of THEM not wanting to give folks their liberty.

The reality is that in living in the city will be extremely difficult for folks to have a decent dependable system that they can fit in their property without being too intrusive.

STownSaint

Also something to think about.

An average home uses about 30kWh per day

The Tesla Powerwall is 13.5kWh

And light-duty EV are approaching 100kWh

So there’s all sorts of pilots and demonstration going on for how practical it’ll be to backfeed EV to power homes (V2H) or even export to the grid (V2G) if the utility needs it. And software could manage energy to make sure there’s enough juice in the EV battery to run your daily errands. Some OEMs support it, others don’t (like Tesla). And most EVSE out there aren’t bidirectional (but most new ones are).

Utilities in places like NY and CA really aren't too threatened by solar. They’re more concerned about cross subsidies and inequity across customers (eg, richer people can afford solar, use less power from the grid, so poorer people who use the grid more end up paying more). Eventually utilities are gonna try to be like “Amazon for electrons” and run the grid like a platform on which businesses and homes can exchange energy (and they’d charge per transaction). Might see it materialize in our lifetimes, but the industry moves at a glacial pace (even with the recent blow up of EV, renewables, storage, etc). Most utilities are heavily regulated, so even if they want to do cool stuff or let customers do whatever they say, there’s tons of red tape to prevent them for doing it

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

I'm glad that PRs are exploring the options that TX needs but is too bootstrappy to legislate LOL. Were I in rural PR I'd look at solar too and I don't think I'd worry about the 'proper' way to hook it to the grid either.

rotarymike

iTrader: (4)

That will be long after my lifetime if ever in SC... we're still paying a surcharge on our power bill to cover the nuke plant they 1/2 built and then abandoned. It is VERY much a F-you I've got mine type of place.

BULL

Correct, with this given freedom to explore and build + PR ingenuity, solar has been tried in many ways. The get many ideas from many Spanish speaking countries and what works for them however it seems like the standard limitation is under planned battery storage + decay from the storage system.

I've seen car battery setups, golfcart batteries, fork lift and heavy equipment batteries, trucks, sealed AGM, Tesla walls, and even 18650 walls as well.

In my opinion many folks hyper fixate on KWH when it should really be Kilowatts per week. Planning how much time the house is vacant + an average power production will normally yield a big system.
The main goal is serviceability, no sense in buying 10 cells when that you cant add more to or replace it with another one.

Lastly Solar shines the light on every energy consuming appliances and usually pushes the owner towards better efficiency ones. Again because the systems are big and expensive, decay is a huge important part to plan since improper planning will have you in the same boat as many, their system has started to decay and financially they are still paying for it.

Absinthe

So, a quick back of the napkin figure, based on our average monthly usage of 45KW adding two EV's with an approximate range of 300 miles each and an average driving distance of 50 miles per day total would top our daily usage around 60-70KW (If only charging the EV's at home). This is the approximate power required to be fairly reliably off grid. Luckily even in winter, northern California rarely goes more than 48 hours without sunlight so I'd need standby of about 120-130 KW figuring a margin of safety. Thats about 9 Powerwalls to support worst case demand remaining off-grid.

At figure 300 wats per hour per panel and an average of 8 hours of usable sunlight, it would take between 25-30 panels to support this daily usage. Luckily, my roof is large enough to support up to 35 panels. I have no idea how much a 50KW solar system costs but I'm guessing it's not cheap. Add to this the cost of those 9 Powerwalls and I seriously doubt more than 5% of the residents in Ca could afford the "all-in" proposal even if they have the space. Most will only be able to afford the 10-15KW systems (with no storage options) which would barely cover the added EV load and only if they charge the EV's during the daylight hours).

To toss another wrench in the vision, it's my belief that personal solar will be the only way that California will be able to succeed in its quest to transition its population away from ICE post 2035. Anyone who believes that the existing grid can support even a 20% increase in EV usage is fooling themselves. Only a massive infusion of cash to bolster the infrastructure is going to make the goal achievable. Evan after the grid is bolstered, Many Californians are going to need serious government subsidies to obtain minimal solar/EV systems. With CA leading the charge with some of the highest fuel prices in the nation, the highest homeless population and the most expensive health care options, it really boils down to which "shiny thing" the state government wants to tackle first

Selym

All this over carbon dioxide. Or is it?