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invenio78 t1_j1zmpm4 wrote

Reply to comment by opiegagnon in Any home-battery-backup (or V2G) stories from the storm? by GraniteGeekNH

How much did the powerwall cost?

I mean a portable generator is under $1k plus a couple of gallons of gasoline when this happens

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opiegagnon t1_j1zpk5e wrote

Right, but I have solar panels as well, so I don't have the battery solely for backup in emergency situations.

Most days when the sun is out I only pull 4-5 kwh from the grid.

I generate power all day , what i don't use goes to the battery and then I sell back to eversource once my battery is fully charged. I use a percentage of my battery every night to offset grid usage. Once the non-emergency battery allocation is used up I go back to pulling from the grid.

I would not have bought a battery just for emergency use, it is about the same cost (~10k) as a whole home auto switch over propane generator.

The battery is great for emergencies, but my main goal when getting it was to offset my nightly grid usage.

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invenio78 t1_j1zpyb7 wrote

No, it makes sense if you have solar as well. Not so much if you are just buying a huge battery for times when the power goes out.

A little off topic, how much energy does your solar generate typically in the winter months? It seems like we don't have a lot of sun and the days are short to begin with.

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opiegagnon t1_j1zs2vy wrote

Ugh, December power generation is really frustrating. We got panels in August and I was generating 30+ KWh a day. Now I am barely getting to 10, on an overcast cloudy day I can sometimes get 0 or maybe 1-2 KWh.

I am not looking forward to Jan and Feb. Next winter I will have built up credits over the summer. And my bill will be better, but this year is not going to save a lot of money.

I like to think I am helping the environment too, but I know it is a drop in the bucket really.

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