New PV with Tesla battery system

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  • jabe
    Senior Member
    • Apr 2006
    • 566
    • Hilo, Hawaii
    • Ryobi BT3000 & Delta Milwaukee 10" tilting Table circular saw

    New PV with Tesla battery system

    Finally got my PV w/Tesla battery system installed and running. Here in Hawaii we have one of the highest electrical rates therefore our state has the highest Home Owner/Business with a PV system. Residential average rate 42.47 cent per KWH. On top of that there is a 20% fuel adjustment charge recently added. It helps to have the Fed & State tax credits for installing a PV system. I started the process in Dec. 2021 and the installation was completed 4/26/22 and final inspection/approval with the Utility Co. was on 5/17/22. Long and costly process $ 51 K, 22 Sun Power panels, 1 Tesla Battery, complete system, installation and all permits/inspections. I got 4 quotes and they were all in the same range so I went with the one with the best reputation/service. All of our materials are 3 to 4 X more $$$ than on the continent. Since the completion of the install I used just 6% from the Electric Co. for all my needs. Last month it rained everyday but, it still generated enough power to charge the battery 100%, power my home 90% of the time. At nights the battery supplied all the power till the next day. I can track the Tesla battery use with their Ap. I tried to post photos but there is a server problem.
  • Answer selected by jabe at 09-21-2022, 04:19 AM.
    dbhost
    Slow and steady
    • Apr 2008
    • 9209
    • League City, Texas
    • Ryobi BT3100

    jabe LCHIEN I haven't been watching this thread, and literally just now saw that you both lost your moms recently. Not sure how I missed it but I am so very sorry for your loss. Obviously words just won't suffice, but know that we, this motley group of online woodworkers, are here for you...

    Comment


    • LCHIEN
      LCHIEN commented
      Editing a comment
      Thanks, Dave.

    • jabe
      jabe commented
      Editing a comment
      Mahalo (Thanks) Dave for your kind words.
  • Jim Frye
    Veteran Member
    • Dec 2002
    • 1051
    • Maumee, OH, USA.
    • Ryobi BT3000 & BT3100

    #2
    WOW! My electric rate just dropped to $0.12/KWH. I've always felt pretty lucky with this issue. Our county has an agreement with the state wide electric generation systems with an option that is 100% renewable energy generated. Residents have the option to opt in/out of this plan. As more and more wind/solar fields come online, the generation rate keeps falling. My last electric bill showed the generation cost was down to $0.045/KWH. The rest is the transmission/sloppy public utility management cost. Our local electric utility is under investigation for a $60 million fraud case with a former state legislator over saving a nuclear generation facility. Rebates are expected.
    Glad your foray into renewable energy was successful. It Is an expensive proposition, but once you've passed the installation cost recovery point, it will be well worth it. I thought I was taking a big step just getting an electric riding mower, but it has already saved enough operational costs to replace the batteries and they are just passing 1/5 of their charge cycle count. 87E10 is $4.25/gal. here and that makes the mower 16x less expensive than a gas rider to operate. Your home electric costs will be wonderful. Is your system large enough to feed excess back to the utility or don't they allow that? Some public utilities are starting to fight that since it reduces their revenue stream.
    Last edited by Jim Frye; 05-18-2022, 07:56 PM.
    Jim Frye
    The Nut in the Cellar.
    ”Sawdust Is Man Glitter”

    Comment

    • Slik Geek
      Senior Member
      • Dec 2006
      • 669
      • Lake County, Illinois
      • Ryobi BT-3000

      #3
      Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Is more than half of that $51K rebated over time with the federal and state participation? Even with your extremely high electric rates, it would take a very long time to break even if all of that had to come out of your pocket. Here in northern Illinois, even with about 60% of the installation cost covered by federal and state participation, it still takes a very long time to break even... if nothing significant breaks down.

      Comment

      • Slik Geek
        Senior Member
        • Dec 2006
        • 669
        • Lake County, Illinois
        • Ryobi BT-3000

        #4
        What model panels did you have installed?

        Comment

        • atgcpaul
          Veteran Member
          • Aug 2003
          • 4055
          • Maryland
          • Grizzly 1023SLX

          #5
          Originally posted by jabe
          Finally got my PV w/Tesla battery system installed and running. ... Since the completion of the install I used just 6% from the Electric Co. for all my needs.
          Wow, that's great. Do you need to run the AC or not? How many watts is your system?

          I'm on the other end of things. We bought a house with 4.2kW total which I think are 12 years old now, but the roof was older and will need to replaced soon.


          Comment

          • dbhost
            Slow and steady
            • Apr 2008
            • 9209
            • League City, Texas
            • Ryobi BT3100

            #6
            What, might I ask, does PV mean?
            Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.

            Comment


            • LCHIEN
              LCHIEN commented
              Editing a comment
              Photo Voltaic

              I.e. solar panels
              Last edited by LCHIEN; 05-28-2022, 01:24 AM.
          • jabe
            Senior Member
            • Apr 2006
            • 566
            • Hilo, Hawaii
            • Ryobi BT3000 & Delta Milwaukee 10" tilting Table circular saw

            #7
            Sorry for not replying sooner, we had to care for my mother, she was 102 yrs. old and just passed away yesterday. She is in a better place now so we're OK with that, she had a long good life.

            My PV system is 7.59 KW with 1 Tesla Powerwall battery, Solar edge Inverter and 22 SunPower x-series panels 345W. The SunPower Panels has a 25 yr. warranty and has the least amount of degradation every year. Since the installation we haven't used any power from the Utility Company, at night we run on the battery. On sunny days the battery gets charged first then any excess power is diverted to the GRID and we get a credit for it. I forgot how much the we get for the power to the Grid but it's very little. The engineer said it's better to use the the excess power instead of giving it back to the grid. Without the PV system we were paying about $270.00 to $325.00 per month for electricity now this was before the 20% fuel sur-charge that went into effect in June. Our 1st. bill after the solar system was up for 3 weeks which is not the full billing cycle was $70.00. We're still waiting for the next billing cycle which would be with the full use of our solar system.
            Still working on the Landscape, cannot decide on what plants & trees to put in.

            Comment


            • atgcpaul
              atgcpaul commented
              Editing a comment
              My deepest condolences on the passing of your mother.

            • twistsol
              twistsol commented
              Editing a comment
              Sorry to hear about the loss of your mom. My prayers are with you and your family.

            • LCHIEN
              LCHIEN commented
              Editing a comment
              Sorry about your mom. My mom passed away 2 weeks ago she was 97 and had a sudden decline in health so I know what you were dealing with, its hard even though you know they lived a good life.
          • Dedpedal
            Established Member
            • Feb 2020
            • 255
            • Palm Coast Florida
            • One BT3000 in use and one for parts. Plus a BT3100

            #8
            Wow. We’ve looked into solar but so far none of the plans we’ve found made it any cheaper than FPL. We pay around $150 a month and the solar would cost more to pay for per month. Sounds like it’s definitely the way to go for you out there in the middle of the lake.

            Comment

            • capncarl
              Veteran Member
              • Jan 2007
              • 3564
              • Leesburg Georgia USA
              • SawStop CTS

              #9
              I understand that here in Ga. home systems such as this are discouraged by the Utility providers…. By only paying you for your power back feed a fraction of what they sell you their power for. Stinks real bad.

              Comment

              • Jim Frye
                Veteran Member
                • Dec 2002
                • 1051
                • Maumee, OH, USA.
                • Ryobi BT3000 & BT3100

                #10
                Just got the June electric bill and our generation cost dropped to $0.02/KWH from what it was in May. The utility transmission charge was $0.04/KWH, which was also down. Was really surprised since June was pretty hot here and the A/C was running a lot. Since the electricity plan we pay for is 100% green (solar & wind), the charges keep coming down as more facilities are added to the mix. There is no way at this point in time I could put solar collectors on my home economically. Really glad our county government and the utility give the customers the freedom to choose how their power is generated. Our electric bills break out the cost of generation and transmission, so we can get a better understanding of the cost. The neighbors around me with their BEVs and electric lawn mowers are pretty happy. Gas here is $4.999/gal. and my Ryobi electric rider mower is 40 times cheaper to run at $0.125/hr. than a comparable ICE mower at today's rates.
                Last edited by Jim Frye; 07-04-2022, 07:35 PM.
                Jim Frye
                The Nut in the Cellar.
                ”Sawdust Is Man Glitter”

                Comment

                • jabe
                  Senior Member
                  • Apr 2006
                  • 566
                  • Hilo, Hawaii
                  • Ryobi BT3000 & Delta Milwaukee 10" tilting Table circular saw

                  #11
                  Thank you for the condolences. LCHIEN sorry for your mother's passing.

                  Got my electric bill with the full use of my solar system factored in and they still charged me the 20% surcharge even though I didn't use any power from them, it was $50.00. That kinda sucked the surcharge . Only alternative is to go completely off grid but, I would need to add another battery and that's a $12 K upgrade that I'm not willing to pay. The battery itself is about $8 K then there's engineering fee, equipment upgrade/installation and permit fees. My island could have the cheapest electricity with geothermal but a lot of politics and Hawaiian cultural objections prevent it from expanding. So we only have a small geothermal plant which could be much more.

                  Comment


                  • LCHIEN
                    LCHIEN commented
                    Editing a comment
                    THank you. Its amazing to think, our mothers have seen the Depression, WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, plus our whole lives - the 60's, 70's 80, 90s, 00' and the 10's.
                • dbhost
                  Slow and steady
                  • Apr 2008
                  • 9209
                  • League City, Texas
                  • Ryobi BT3100

                  #12
                  jabe LCHIEN I haven't been watching this thread, and literally just now saw that you both lost your moms recently. Not sure how I missed it but I am so very sorry for your loss. Obviously words just won't suffice, but know that we, this motley group of online woodworkers, are here for you...
                  Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel. Please check out and subscribe to my Workshop Blog.

                  Comment


                  • LCHIEN
                    LCHIEN commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Thanks, Dave.

                  • jabe
                    jabe commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Mahalo (Thanks) Dave for your kind words.
                • atgcpaul
                  Veteran Member
                  • Aug 2003
                  • 4055
                  • Maryland
                  • Grizzly 1023SLX

                  #13
                  jabe Can you tell how many kWh your panels are putting out a month? I just got my first electric bill with no one living in the house for the past 2 weeks and I'm a little surprised. I thought it'd be less. It seems MD is 1:1 with usage/production. The utility just subtracts my production from my usage, and charges me for the rest. It helps but not as much as I expected.
                  Last edited by atgcpaul; 07-13-2022, 07:13 PM.

                  Comment

                  • jabe
                    Senior Member
                    • Apr 2006
                    • 566
                    • Hilo, Hawaii
                    • Ryobi BT3000 & Delta Milwaukee 10" tilting Table circular saw

                    #14
                    Sorry for not replying sooner, been busy with landscaping and family matters. I generated 759.3 kWh so far for September, used 447.8 kWh of that 208.2 kWh was from my Tesla battery, I used nothing from the Grid. Yesterday it was overcast & rainy yet our solar system still provided all the power we needed. I have 22 SunPower PV panels, each panel rated @ 345 W and 1 Tesla battery.

                    Comment

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