28 January

I did something I had actually decided I wasn’t going to. I upgraded our existing Powerwall for 2 new Powerwalls. Originally the dollars didn’t really make sense, to do it, but the deal the installer offered that included both government and Tesla rebates was impossible to say no to. As a rough indication, buying 2 Powerwall 3s could normally cost you up to $35,000. I got them for just over $13,000. Something to understand about the evolving grid is that the days of making big money for all your solar exports are over. That subsidy was in place to encourage people to install solar panels. That’s overwhelmingly job done, they’re on millions of homes now. Now the target is to increase exports at peak times, and for that you need a battery. So subsidies shifted to batteries. You can make good money exporting in peak hours. But always the most money to be made consistently is in avoiding using grid power yourself, and again for that you need a battery (or 2). Every kWh you use that you might get 3-5c for by exporting, is a kWh you don’t have to import at 25-50 c/kWh. It’s also not just about money, with climate change creating more extreme weather batteries give you much more energy security at home. When the grid goes down, you’ll still have power. Why pick Tesla again? Because with all things electrical and renewables, they had such a head start on the world they still have the best technology. The software alone is worth the price of admission, and you need good software to manage a battery well. It also obviously integrates beautifully with a Tesla vehicle.