3 ms·

A few years ago I scraped some publicly-accessible data from https://www.iso-ne.com/ https://www.iso-ne.com/ regarding the spot cost of electricity. Then I fed

A few years ago I scraped some publicly-accessible data from https://www.iso-ne.com/ https://www.iso-ne.com/ regarding the spot cost of electricity. Then I fed it into a battery simulator that I wrote. Based on my estimated cost of a grid-scale battery, I estimated a payoff in ~2 years; and then a lot of profit. The biggest challenge is the politics and red tape of connecting something to the grid. The grid operators are used to power plants being multi-year projects.

TMWNN 3y ago
>Based on my estimated cost of a grid-scale battery, I estimated a payoff in ~2 years; and then a lot of profit. Is this applicable to the South Australia Powerwall installation?
- gwbas1c 3y ago
  My simulations were based on the iso-new England grid's spot fees. I estimated the cost of a grid scale battery based on what I paid for my powerwall, because I couldn't get data on the price of the mega pack. I couldn't tell you if you'll save money with a powerwall in Australia. You'll need to look up local incentives for that. Understanding the economics of a power grid, it's only worth it if you have solar and don't have typical American-style "net metering," or you have solar and need backup for power outages. What I can tell you is that, in the US, in 2019, I got a rebate for my powerwall that made it price competitive with a standby generator. (Cost a little more, but I don't pay for annual maintenance or fuel.) I don't feed into the grid with it. The incentives would need to be pretty lucrative, though, because if there's a power outage overnight, it'll drain fast! (All my outages since I got it happened during the day.) What I can also tell you is that Tesla made a lot of headlines hooking up a grid scale battery to balance out an Australian wind farm. It prevented a frequency drop when a coal plant went offline.
  - TMWNN 3y ago
    > What I can also tell you is that Tesla made a lot of headlines hooking up a grid scale battery to balance out an Australian wind farm. It prevented a frequency drop when a coal plant went offline. This is what I was referring to; I was wondering whether your calculation would apply to it.

TMWNN 3y ago

>Based on my estimated cost of a grid-scale battery, I estimated a payoff in ~2 years; and then a lot of profit. Is this applicable to the South Australia Powerwall installation?

gwbas1c 3y ago
My simulations were based on the iso-new England grid's spot fees. I estimated the cost of a grid scale battery based on what I paid for my powerwall, because I couldn't get data on the price of the mega pack. I couldn't tell you if you'll save money with a powerwall in Australia. You'll need to look up local incentives for that. Understanding the economics of a power grid, it's only worth it if you have solar and don't have typical American-style "net metering," or you have solar and need backup for power outages. What I can tell you is that, in the US, in 2019, I got a rebate for my powerwall that made it price competitive with a standby generator. (Cost a little more, but I don't pay for annual maintenance or fuel.) I don't feed into the grid with it. The incentives would need to be pretty lucrative, though, because if there's a power outage overnight, it'll drain fast! (All my outages since I got it happened during the day.) What I can also tell you is that Tesla made a lot of headlines hooking up a grid scale battery to balance out an Australian wind farm. It prevented a frequency drop when a coal plant went offline.
- TMWNN 3y ago
  > What I can also tell you is that Tesla made a lot of headlines hooking up a grid scale battery to balance out an Australian wind farm. It prevented a frequency drop when a coal plant went offline. This is what I was referring to; I was wondering whether your calculation would apply to it.