Tesla Solar/Powerwall for Tank/Home Backup (1 Viewer)

[gregg]

A tax credit is only as good as the amount you owe... If you already get a refund, you won't see any additional money

Just because you get a refund doesn’t always mean you didn’t owe taxes. You just happened to overpay them and they sent you the difference back. A tax credit would increase that refund even more.

 

[foos]

I'm doing self powered right now, so minimal to no sell back atm. My usage is also a bit high since I got this house last summer and never dialed in where the thermostat is set. Just ordered some more sensors for it so I can the temp of the room I'm in to try and save a bit. I have also lost a few pounds of insulation over the last year and figured I need to start bumping up the temp since I now get cold with what is set. Probably should not be in long sleeve ************ and pants and cold when it is 98 outside.....

For the tax credit, yeah, you need the matching liability. I should be able to use all of it and only owe a little on taxes the second year. If anyone is considering solar but absolutely needs the tax credit to be able to do it financially, they should double check with a tax pro first.

 

[foos]

Also, I did get on Reliant's Solar Sell Back plan. They measure my usage and what I send back separately, and will only buy back up to what I use. From the conditions I got though, it looks like all other fee's are removed so a zero balance bill should be possible. I'll know for sure when I get the bill. There was another company that I believe did buy back more so you could go negative but until I get a more efficient a.c. it is not worth the cancellation fees at Reliant.

Reliant did take most mentions of the plan off the internet, but I was able to find out how to contact that department. I asked about that and they said they took it down while they work on tweaking it, but people can still sign up since it is still in the system. The plan may just be a bit diff when renewal comes up.

 

[Erin]

Just because you get a refund doesn’t always mean you didn’t owe taxes. You just happened to overpay them and they sent you the difference back. A tax credit would increase that refund even more.

Actually, no, it doesn't. If you underpaid, you can get the credit and it will reduce what you owe, but you don't get actual money back.

"...While most people qualify for the solar panel tax credit, there are some who do not. Anyone who does not owe federal income taxes will not be able to benefit from the solar tax credit.

 

[Erin]

Also... "Unfortunately, the 26% ITC is not a refundable credit. However, per Section 48 of the Internal Revenue Code, the ITC can be carried back 1 year and forward 20 years. This means that if you had a tax liability last year but don't have one this year, you can still claim the credit"

 

[foos]

Hmm, I did not know about the back one year. I need to pay someone to do my taxes next year. See if they can get it retro active for last year as well. That would free up some tax credit for adding an EPA wood stove since that was added as part of covid relief. I did not have someone go over my taxes since worst case of me not being able to take the credit will not ruin me. AKA, not relying on it, just a very nice cherry on top.

 

[BigRick]

So, during the time where it seems no power is being used, how much electricity did you sell back to the grid?

Hes not yet from what I read

 

[foos]

Hes not yet from what I read

Right, I am doing self powered mode right now which stores power in the batteries during the day and uses that at night until I get down to the reserve I have set, which is 20% atm. It has been cloudy lately and my usage is a bit extreme so I have not filled the batteries.

My usage should be going down. I just got this house last summer and had set up the a.c. to keep my office comfy since wfh and what have you. With me, my electronics, and the tank in the office, keeping that cool basically super cools the rest of the house. I just added more sensors to the ecobee and configured it to focus on the room I'm in so that I'm not using as much power the rest of the day.

I also set my Hubitat to monitor the battery charge level and grid status, and if the gird is down and batteries get below 30%, switch the thermostat to away to extend how long they last. Might set it to turn off the a.c. at something like 15% to extend the run time for the tank even further. I also have my ceiling fan and a room fan set to turn on based off tank temps so even with the a.c. off my tank should stay cool for a long time.









Apparently I was wrong, the office vent fan I set up to blow hot air out is based on room temp. I should adjust this for tank temp since I have since setup the a.c. to run based on just the office room temp during work hours.

 

[Reefahholic]

50K! Wow! You sir are a serious Reefer.

 

[BigRick]

50K! Wow! You sir are a serious Reefer.

Like you're not.... or for that matter the most of us.

 

[BigRick]

So, during the time where it seems no power is being used, how much electricity did you sell back to the grid?

He is not selling back into the grid

 

[Erin]

He is not selling back into the grid

Thanks. How many times are you going to answer this question? Lolol

 

[foos]

I almost sold some back yesterday. Batteries got to 94%. I generated 71.3kWh of solar yesterday and 64.3kWh the day before. Yesterdays usage was 72.1kWh and the day before was 69.3kWh.

Looking over the history so far the lowest I have gotten is 61% self powered and that is when I did several loads of laundry. Electric dryers sorta use a lota juice. Most the time so far I have been 70-80% self powered, so if I can get a more efficient a.c. this winter I may be able to get to the point that I am 100% self powered, even on cloudy days.

 

[foos]

Looks like last week was better than the one before. Still have not generated more than I use in a day though. I did clean the a.c. condenser coils and replace the filter to see if that helps with efficiency and gets me closer to break even. I didn't clean the evaporator coils, they are in the attic and it gets so hot up there I would be dead before I got the cover off.

 

[BigRick]

Looks like last week was better than the one before. Still have not generated more than I use in a day though. I did clean the a.c. condenser coils and replace the filter to see if that helps with efficiency and gets me closer to break even. I didn't clean the evaporator coils, they are in the attic and it gets so hot up there I would be dead before I got the cover off.

I dont want 2 power bills.... eeek I thought yesterday would have generated some serious kw... 50+ panels for me or no go.

 

[foos]

Yesterday I made 67.6kWh from solar. Can you tell what your usage was with your provider?

Everything I have ever seen from people that have gotten solar the recommendation is to get as many panels as makes sense for your roof space. Almost everyone that has gotten less than they can fit has ended up regretting it since they later want more and end up spending more than if they got them all at once, and some times they cant get the same panel anymore so they have a mix of panels and that looks kinda ************.

Personally I wanted the largest setup Tesla offered, but that did not make sense with my roof so I got the medium size. If I get a more efficient a.c. I should be making more than I use almost all the time. The a.c. needs to be replaced anyway and I factored that in when I got solar. I got solar knowing the array I would get would cover around 80% of my usage, but my a.c. needs to be replaced and I could knock my usage way down if I got a high efficiency a.c. when I replace it. I average 1kW when the a.c. is not running for 24kWh general use a day. Yesterday my usage was 75.4kWh so that is over 50kWh used just by my a.c. which was seer 12 when new. If I replace that with a seer 25 that would have been 25kWh used by the a.c. for under 50kWh total used meaning I would have gotten 17kWh more from solar than I used.


Front of my house is actually West, and they managed to get all panels on the east and south sections without any behind the chimney.

 

[BigRick]

Yesterday I made 67.6kWh from solar. Can you tell what your usage was with your provider?

Everything I have ever seen from people that have gotten solar the recommendation is to get as many panels as makes sense for your roof space. Almost everyone that has gotten less than they can fit has ended up regretting it since they later want more and end up spending more than if they got them all at once, and some times they cant get the same panel anymore so they have a mix of panels and that looks kinda ************.

Personally I wanted the largest setup Tesla offered, but that did not make sense with my roof so I got the medium size. If I get a more efficient a.c. I should be making more than I use almost all the time. The a.c. needs to be replaced anyway and I factored that in when I got solar. I got solar knowing the array I would get would cover around 80% of my usage, but my a.c. needs to be replaced and I could knock my usage way down if I got a high efficiency a.c. when I replace it. I average 1kW when the a.c. is not running for 24kWh general use a day. Yesterday my usage was 75.4kWh so that is over 50kWh used just by my a.c. which was seer 12 when new. If I replace that with a seer 25 that would have been 25kWh used by the a.c. for under 50kWh total used meaning I would have gotten 17kWh more from solar than I used.


Front of my house is actually West, and they managed to get all panels on the east and south sections without any behind the chimney.

I face east to west and got a lot of roof space. I think I'll go for the bigger 22k 54 panels

 

[foos]

I face east to west and got a lot of roof space. I think I'll go for the bigger 22k 54 panels

Sounds like a plan. I am a fan of getting more solar than you need, especially while you can still find utilities that will buy back power. I would rather have too much power than not enough. That and adding things like electric cars would make those extra panels nice.

 

[saltyanimals]

I'm also a Tesla solar user started back in Q3 2020. So is another reefer here and we've been comparing sell back plan actuals vs what our homes consume. Granted our systems are very different.

I'm on 16 kW system + 2 PW for whole-house backup and like @chrisfoos I keep a low reserve because I like to be independent. i.e. Charge my batteries at every chance I get and consume the stored power before buying from the grid. This helps me keep my monthly bills down. Granted these recent months have not been great from a sell perspective because my AC consumption is high; it was in lined with my initial forecast and plan. Specifically I expected to pay a bit out of pocket $100 last month to the electric company (Tesla's recommended MP2) whereas earlier months I was paying $9. Home is 4k+ sq feet new construction so bit more efficient inherently for reference.

Home is also automated, but on the Smartthings platform. Was thinking about a hack to the smart things for Telsa, but good to know about this Hubitant allowing it to kick off automation based on the Telsa state. Thanks for sharing! I would like to power down pool equipment during outages =)

 

[foos]

I'm also a Tesla solar user started back in Q3 2020. So is another reefer here and we've been comparing sell back plan actuals vs what our homes consume. Granted our systems are very different.

I'm on 16 kW system + 2 PW for whole-house backup and like @chrisfoos I keep a low reserve because I like to be independent. i.e. Charge my batteries at every chance I get and consume the stored power before buying from the grid. This helps me keep my monthly bills down. Granted these recent months have not been great from a sell perspective because my AC consumption is high; it was in lined with my initial forecast and plan. Specifically I expected to pay a bit out of pocket $100 last month to the electric company (Tesla's recommended MP2) whereas earlier months I was paying $9. Home is 4k+ sq feet new construction so bit more efficient inherently for reference.

Home is also automated, but on the Smartthings platform. Was thinking about a hack to the smart things for Telsa, but good to know about this Hubitant allowing it to kick off automation based on the Telsa state. Thanks for sharing! I would like to power down pool equipment during outages =)

Yeah, Hubitat allows 3rd party drivers and there is a guy that made one for the Apex and for Powerwalls. Lots of people ditch smart things for hubitat and I was worried about the future of hubitat since they only made money on selling hubs, but they added some optional hub backup and insurance plans that should keep them above water.

https://community.hubitat.com/t/re-project-driver-for-connecting-to-your-tesla-devices/75413/24

Index of /projects/hubitat/drivers

I also use his ambient weather driver since I use one of those weather stations, and it seems he has one for Unifi as well, and I use their networking gear.

In the recent firmware hubitat added native support for a GE switch that was something silly like 20amps and can be used for pool equipment.