Welcome to The Solar Truth! This channel is for homeowners who want to cut through all the noise generated by this billion-dollar industry. We’ll take a look at solar industry trends, cutting-edge solar science and misinformation surrounding solar panel installations, and backup battery technology. If you already have solar and are looking to upgrade or researching solar for the first time, our goal is to debunk myths about solar technology, expose fraud, and shine some light on the solar industry so you can make a more informed decision to go solar!
Can you do a 2024 update. Power wall 3 soecs, cost install savings peak .80 cents. Lowest night kwh rate .25 cents? Tier 1? Wow. Forcing 10x demand and .40 cents isnt enough to fill local demand. Producers get screwed. Add an Edison Motors ev truck conversion kit installed. 70 kwh truck, 280 kwh semi. 50 % fuel, no def required, red dye diesel legal, 50% fuel regen motor axels. Efficently sized motor.
How does your math work if sodium batteries in 5 years are one-third the cost of today's lithium batteries? Maybe you just use less electricity until the technology becomes cheaper, as it almost always does.
One thing to consider is that the value of electricity is going down and will eventually reach zero because of the giant storage batteries that the utilitiy companies are starting to use, so you will eventually not be able to make the $2.00 per kwh that he mentioned. I have already seen a reduction in what PG&E paid me for my surplus electricity from my true-up in July of 2023 to my true-up in July of 2024. In 2023 I produced 4200 kwh surplus which they paid me 8 cents per kwh, ($336) and at my true-up in 2024 I produced 5400 surplus kwh which they paid me 4 cents per kwh. That's a 50% reduction in value in one year. My system is under the NEM 2 rules. The best thing to do is put your money into some stocks like Planatir, it'll be a lot better investment than screwing around with some gadget that has a 10 to 15 year payback before you save a penny. Don't think small.
The "saving the planet" thinking is now taking a back seat. You, the silly homeowner victim, will be treated like any other power generation provider at wholesale rate.
My Enphase system is using the AI Optimization setting…with this setting my grid dependence has gone from 10-15% and costing me $5-10 a day (in the summer) to around 45% grid dependency and making $8-10 a day. It’s insane. My system discharges my battery at damn near full speed to the grid from 7-8. All the way to my reserve at 10%. I was a little annoyed at first but the system works. I am making money or at least buying down my usage in the hottest months.
How long have you been exporting energy to the grid? Does your bill show you the higher rates for exports? I'm on my first moved if solar my last bill has 3 days off solar and it shows me receiving a flat rate of 5c per kwh. My utility it's SDGE/SDCP.
@@geeyoupee I only just changed to the new AI Optimization setting on this billing cycle. I haven’t seen what my actual return will be in the export. I only see what the Enphase app tells which is based on the NEM 3.0 import and export schedule. It’s programmed into my app. In SDGE as well.
The way government works NEM 4.0....let all solar systems fall off their grandfather status, will pay you zero for your energy, and actually charge you for the power you were supposed to have consumed if you were connected to the grid only. 🤣😂😆
finally !!! somebodies at the CPUC ended the solar subsidy at the expense of all ratepayers program !!! Big Brother wanted to incentivize homeowners to install $$$$ solar panels, but they did such a good job it got out of hand.....Utility companies (check that, ANY company) that wants to stay solvent CANNOT purchase product at retail price and then SELL it at retail price, DOH......NEMS was a way to pay $$$$ for overproduction in order to lower ROI so people would buy & install these. CA actually made it MANDATORY in 2020 on all new construction. At least now if I choose to install solar (and yes, batteries, which is a no-brainer if you expect power during an outage/earthquake), it will be my own dime paying for it, not my next door neighbors whose situation may not allow them to have panels, just a power bill that used to reflect the cost of MY solar panel install....Sure wish CA Demogogues would now help pay my slip rent and the $80k I just spent on my boat......
It was difficult to follow this video. I think you are saying if I had a bi-directional EV vehicle (Ford Ev truck) that has a 130 kWh battery, then I could charge the battery using my home solar panels and then send the 130 kWh back to the grid in September between 8-10pm. I would be paid back ~$2.7/kwh for each of 30 days in September. This is 130 x $2.7 x 30 = $10,530 for the month of September.
I haven't seen him make any responses but I don't think this works. I don't know much but I've been trying to find out more. They give you a credit for future energy use, it's not a cash value. At your true up date, they give you "generation surplus rate" for any unused credit which is probably around 4-6c per kwh. I think there's a limit to how much you can export to the grid based on the nem contact. I'm not exactly sure on this. Exporting 130kwh will be tough on the inverter. Mine can do 12k which is really only 8.6k because of losses in converting from DC to AC and other losses. It will probably be hard for you to export all of it during peak hrs so it will probably go past the 8-10 window.
From my understanding, a Hybrid inverter that back feeds to the grid has it's limitation. I have seen 12KwH continuous per hour and your have a window of 2 hours that you are getting at the peak rates. Furthermore, your Ford can only dump something like 11 kWh or maybe it's 5 kWh, you want to check on that but there is no way to dump 130 kWh in a 2 hour window. Plus unless, PGE cut me a check a the end of the year when the trueup happens and this is just a credit then that can also change the equation. I would love to see some real world experience and proof of someone doing this and not just some projection that is all based on speculation and a rate sheet that is no where to be found.
Thoughts on adding panels and battery to go NEM 3.0? Probably not a good idea IMO. Stay where you’re at unless your current system is too small for your consumption.
Actually! Solar is still a great value under NEM 3.0 in CA! Just add solar with batteries to store any excess solar production in the batteries and avoid sending it to the grid, and use your stored energy to midgate high Time of Use (TOU) rates between 4pm and 9pm and to power your home overnight. I'm quoting solar and battery systems that have less than an 8-year payback and include a 30-year 100% solar parts and labor warranty with roof leak protection. Effectively, producing your own energy at a fixed cost that's 30% to 50% less than the utility $0.36 to over $0.60 per kWh rates that increase yearly at well over 8% per year. We expect CA utility rates to double in the next 10 years. Since 2011 I've personally helped over 1,000 homeowners protect their homes and families against high CA utility rates. Love to help! Tom Semark www.sunlove.us solar and roofing.
This is SUPER fun. I'm about to convert my house up in the SF East Bay Area to all-electric (mostly heat-pumps for HVAC and hot-water), so this is very relevant. I'd love to see the data also including heat-pump water heater, heat-pump dryer, mini-split HVAC, etc! (Especially the water heater since that's such a huge difference compared to NG)
"Cracking the code to NEM3!!" Spend $50,000 buying numerous batteries. Got it. 11:45 seems to make the video irrelevant at that point. Is it just a commercial/advertisement at that point?
so, few things here, great analysis, great excel work, I've done some stuff with excel that's similar, and come to the same conclusions, I'm a c10 holder who installs Solar, Batteries, Generators and does Electrical work like MPU's and EV chargers, and my goal was to minimize the ROI for homeowners by exing out sales reps and overhead waist that I've seen with these poorly run solar companies, ok so, issue number #1, too complicated for the average homeowner and too labor intensive for me to adjust every battery system every August/September during those "encouraged" hours, so we'd probably just set the battery to export at full throttle every TOU duration for the year. so the issues with this strategy is, #1 strain on the battery system, #2 foregoing any back-up capabilities, #3 your AC is going to be running at that time, 20kwh will run 1 small condenser for 5 hours, so with a typical system, you'd have to sacrifice comfort for that saving strategy, or #4 Doubling your battery size destroys ROI, #5 PCS is out the window to push as much power as possible during that 1 to 5 hour window requiring an MPU, thus adding to ROI... ok Issue number #2 is assumption that the system is indestructible for the next 15 to 20 years is not a valid gamble, Issue number #3 The system cost at this point to make this happen, including the Electrical Vehicle (minus gas prices or whatever), More Batteries, More Solar Panels, More labor, more equipment, ev chargers, doing the whole shabang gets us into the realm of Financing being the only option, which then increase the ROI yet again.... in essences... spending upwards of $100,000 or more, additional stress on the homeowner regarding if the system actually working and paying attention to battery profiles all to save a few hundred bucks a month is not an easy sell... also with the volatility of solar companies it's not a safe bet to think that your installer will honor service warrantees... it's just... it's uu... yeah... someone please tell me otherwise
I found this video going back & forth all over but; I understand the premise. I currently have a solar system (installed 22 years ago) coupled with a Powerwall (installed last mont --qualified under NEM2) PLUS two Ev's. Needless to say, I have been a solar advocate for a long time. We are a PG&E customer. I have considered going off-grid since it wouldn't take a lot more to be able to make that work. Using NEM (NEB) to get a check from the utilities would be great! Good for you presenting the methodology.
Under 3.0 the biggest savings answer might actually be PPA. If you drive an all electric vehicle, you’re never going to have a net income on power, even with triple capacity batteries. PHEVs with 20kWh may still come out in the black. But NEM3.0 ’s goal was to favor the solar corporations under the guise of helping the small business owner.
Thousands payback?? Easier said than done. Your battery will support your energy usage when the sun is down unless you have some large batteries. But the battery costs a lot of money and increase your payback time! The only way is to overturn the NEM 3.0 or increase the export credit or extend NEM 2.0 for another year. The lawsuit against NEM 3.0 is ongoing. The 5 utility commissioners who voted for NEM 3.0 must/may already have secured NEM 2.0 for themselves and they want you to get NEM 3.0! That should be the main concern.
Awesome! We will definitely do. My interim plan would be small panel array to run the swamp cooler with small battery to run it a few hours into datkmess and power a lighting circuit so the lights stay on. Less than $2k for that, if i cant export to grid. You have restored my hope since missing the boat on nem2. Thank you!
Can this strategy be used with NEM 2.0 I may have misunderstood the video but with EV’s getting cheaper it seems like even with NEM 2.0 an EV may pay for itself instead of having to buy a battery system and also being able to do zero out my consumption during peak hours.
Very nice video - one of your main points: are you are saying we can select the time period we can sell our stored energy from battery? I guess i just want to clarify: We can sell back to the grid when they pay higher rates? How do we program for power to be sold at a certain time?
"National Code" doesn't Apply.... Just have shutoff's for power to "work" on the unit without power. The National Electrical Code® (NEC)® Section 110.26 requires adequate working space for all electrical equipment. NEC Section 110.26(A) requires a clear space at least 30 inches wide and 36 inches deep if the equipment is likely to be worked on while energized. This space is necessary not only to allow workers room to perform tasks but also room to move if something goes wrong. NFPA 70E®, Standard for Electrical Safety in the Workplace®, Section 110.3 requires that all equipment be placed into an electrically safe work condition (ESWC) unless there is proper justification for the equipment to be energized. NEC 110.26(A) still applies even if equipment will be in an ESWC.
Recently, I let 4 quote expire because I could not get the bidders to provide detailed analysis as you presented. Although, the bidders showed in their quote "the ultimate savings", the basis for their calculation were not explained. I got your e-mail and website and I will try to get in touch with you. Your video is excellent. Your explanation of the 60-80% or 100% offset solar production of energy usage really gives a good sense of where the recommendation comes from.
I wanted to pay cash for a solar system but with this NEM 3.0 it's not worth it in my view. I will never own a EV so that's not another drain. But with a battery it's $25K. A neighbor who has the battery system still told me she pays $500 at the end of the year to SCE. So I pay SCE around $1800 a year so I don't see it.
September from 6-8 pm is the time frame getting post NEM3.0 solar salespeople all hot and bothered. It's not about getting paid by the utilities any more. It is all about saving money. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xALxI-7P-tk.html
The answer is to dump 30 to 40K into storage batteries, pay 30% interest on them for ten years, then replace them. You do all this knowing full well that any edge you may come up with, the alleged professional bureaucrats will legislate away from you in the near future. Sounds like a swell idea.
Looking at your excel spreadsheet sheet your math is I believe is flawed. Your assumption is that you would export 100% of the battery kWh capacity in the two peak hours of high payback. Unless your using grid power between 4-6 and then Energy dumping your battery will never be at 100% full capacity at 6-8pm. Also your bidirectional charging scenario is highly very flawed. When are you charging the car? Not from the battery at night as the kWh capacity of a Solar ESS system is tiny in comparison to an EV. So if you were to charge your EV from the grid you cannot export grid power back to the grid from a Solar battery or EV car. The only Power that can be exported is Solar Energy. So unless you work from home & charge your car during the day from excess generation above what the solar system produces this is not allowed per NEM 3.0 guidelines. I like your points but your math is flawed as well as your assumptions regarding what is actually allowed under each of the 3 IOU'S in California Also one last point when you have oversized batteries, you need to also oversize your solar system or else you will not have the ability to fully charge your battery. To have the correct analysis you will need to overlay a customer's interval data. You will see here in California HVAC usage will have already drawn down the Battery in the 2 hours before the Power hours & also the load during the Power Hours. So customer consumption load profile play a much bigger role in the battery export values credits you get in your bill. I think you have the right idea on some points but are I bleive you have over overvalued your battery export credit in your analysis of an averge home that consumes roughly 12,000 kWh annually the a 2 Tesla Power system will end up with around just over 1000 dollars a year in credit. All in all nice video though.
Great argument! Wanted to add that efficiency of inverters converting back from DC to AC will cost you some kWh thus longer payback. Mitigate by adding panels. You also don't want to fully charge/discharge, leaving 20% upper & lower limits to prevent damage which will also mean you need more batteries. Charging car free off site to arbitrage would be great but you degrading life cycle of battery. Bi direction is great for emergencies
