The Texas power grid is notorious for being put to test by extreme heat as well as winter snow and ice storms. While battery owners from utility scale down to homeowners provide needed power to the grid in many places around the world, Texas is not one of them. Tesla hopes to change that, and recently filed a request for a rule change (OBDRR) with the Electric Council of Texas (ERCOT) that would clear the way for utilities to bid on capacity stored in batteries.
Tesla would like to operate the distributed energy assets generated in its Powerwall batteries as a virtual power plant, and it is to that end that the company has launched a virtual power plant demonstration project. The company ran a similar virtual power plant (VPP) project last summer in California. In the Texas demonstration, Tesla plans to prove to ERCOT that a Powerwall fleet can provide these services in Texas by setting up a Virtual Power Plant comprised of volunteer Powerwall owners.
By opting in to the Tesla ERCOT Demonstration, Powerwalls will be used in tests and demonstrations with the Texas utility to establish the capabilities of the Powerwall fleet. What’s in it for those Powerwall customers that participate in at least 80% of the tests is a $40 Tesla gift card, and they also may gain the satisfaction of participating in something larger than meeting their own energy storage needs. They may prove to ERCOT that a band of Powerwalls has benefits.
In the demonstration project Tesla will control the participants’ Powerwalls including charging, discharging and configuring the device to automatically respond to grid conditions, and to support tests that demonstrate grid services. In the agreement Tesla promises to not draw the battery below 20% of its capacity, so that the Powerwall can be used for backup. Except for this limitation, Tesla may charge or discharge the Powerwalls at any time and to any extent.
The caveats in the agreement include that the total liability for any kind of damages will not exceed $500; that participants are encouraged to consult a tax professional regarding any potential impact on the Investment Tax Credit that the customer may have claimed on their Powerwall; the customer acknowledges that their Powerwall may have a reduced charge; and in the event of a power outage during the project, Tesla is not liable for any loss of power that the customer may experience.
Read also “Climate, the Texas grid, and solar + batteries to the rescue“
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I paid for my batteries for my own use and backup power and unless the utility wants to spit the cost on all my batteries and any replacement batteries, I am not going to let them use them and only compensate me 3 to 10 cents per kilo watt hour when the real cost of batteries is 16.5 cents per kilo watt hour over their lifetime of 12 years. yes, I got a tax credit on my original batteries but the replacement batteries, I will need to buy, will not get the federal tax credit because it will not be a new installation but only a replacement. Let the utilities buy their own batteries to balance the grid they charge us so much money for to be connected to and buy their energy.
One Tesla power wall, with installation and taxes is $8,000.00. It has a useful life of 12 years and can be charged and discharged daily of 11 kilo watt hours useful charge. 12 X 365 X 11 Kilo watt hours = 48,180 maximum Kilo watt hours of storage. $8,000.00 / 48180 = 16.5 cents for each of those kilo watt hours in value. If the utility paid half or $4,000.00 and used half of the 11 kilo watt hours per day at peak times of 5.5 kilo watt hours, the cost to the homeowner would still be 16.5 cents per kilo watt hour they could use but the net cost to the utility would also be 16.5 cents per kilo watt hour. If the owner of a tesla battery gets compensated anything less than 17 cents per kilo watt hour sent to the grid, do not sign up to the utilities power grab.
Under NEM-2.0 in California, from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM from June 1 to September 30, PG&E pays 41 cents per kilo watt hour for any power sent to the grid from solar panels, windmills or batteries and that is worth taking advantage of. The utility converts all power sent them to dollar credits, not kilo watt hour credits. Under NEM-3.0 the proposed credits would be worth 1/5 the of the current credit or 8.2 cents per kilo watt hour, under paying the 16.5 cents worth by 8.3 cents per kilo watt hour. The bottom line is, do not connect your batteries to the grid but use all the power yourself from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM daily sending zero to the grid. Remember, you must use up 11 kilo watt hours daily from each of your Power Walls or the cost per Kilo watt hour goes higher on your battery investment. If you do not use at least 10 kilo watt hours of “utility power” daily from 6:00 PM in the evening to 8:00 AM the following morning, grid tied batteries will not pay for themselves, ever. Just install solar and install a 10,000-watt backup generator with transfer switch for 1/3 the cost of that Tesla Power Wall for emergency backup power.
A used EV is often FAR cheaper than a PowerWall–plus it’s portable and has a BIGGER capacity. Just be sure it has V2X–or find a smart electrician that can add this feature.