Unfortunately, most utilities in the US will not allow us to do that.
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Oh that sucks.
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The situation re battery storage may be changing here in in the US (new Federal law etc.). However, I already have solar, and even with new incentives it would be expensive to add storage.
If grid power were to become less reliable, I'd be motivated to consider adding storage regardless of economic payback.
In the mean time I'm focused on making this scheme work.
We are in the Yarra ranges (outer east of Melbourne Suburbs) and get a lot of small outages due to trees falling etc. we’ve also had a few big storms that caused multiple day power outages and not being able to go off grid with just solar was very frustrating.
Getting a Powerwall was surprisingly affordable though one of the power companies here. They offered 2% finance and fully installed for $13k AUD if you joined their VPP for 12 months.
The Powerwall, by my calculations, is covering 1/3rds of its cost on average and combined with the solar system has massively boosted the value we get from our solar system.
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I really want an off-grid minisplit powered only by solar, not grid tied. They do make them, but they are super expensive compared to a normal minisplit. That is the only viable way to make solar pay with my horrible utility and the pittance they buy back solar. Otherwise, I need to store energy with expensive batteries, or with water and resistance heating, which doesn't help in the summer (but would in winter).
The supercooling does work, with my house I can "coast" from about Noon to 6 PM after cooling to 67 in the morning when rates are cheaper. The house hits about 71 at dinner time, and with cooking heat etc, I can't quite make the 8PM rate cutoff. However I am working on insulation and so on to try and improve that.
I would like to see an update and how this works for you.
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Heat pump water heaters are the new hot thing in Australia (see what I did there 
), they use much less energy than gas or traditional electric water heaters.
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The Yarra ranges look beautiful. I hope it is nice as the tourist photos suggest.
The cost savings you show - what is the time period? The values are greater than my total monthly bill during peak summer (~US $290).
Thanks!
Oh they are, we are in the foothills only 15 mins away from Olinda and other amazing parts of the ranges.
That's just this year so far - dont forget that our seasons are inverted down under.
We used to pay around $3,000 AUD per year for power, solar cut that in half. The battery is saving us maybe another $700 per year (it's hard to cal properly due to the way it covers the solar generation fluctuations (eg clouds) so im being very conservative.
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Thank you; will do. Anything off-grid is expensive.
With my micro-inverters (IQ-8), I could add another controller to enable powering the home on solar when the grid is down. But I wouldn’t want to risk running heat pumps this way.
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They really dont like frequently losing power while running, it'll damage them in the medium term. It's best to have battery storage and run them from that. A single PW2 will provide 5kW continuous and 7kW peak which is more than enough for most homes.
That said, I'd like to add a second PW at some point in the future as even our little 5.4kW system can generate more than double the 13.5kWh of energy a PW2 can hold (my record is 40kWh's in one day).
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Thanks - that makes sense.
BTW I’m considering a heat-pump water heater. But we don’t use much hot water (empty-nesters). In the summer the cold tap runs warm enough to shower.
We should invest in a good old-fashioned clothes line. Electric dryers are energy hogs.
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Nearly $1 per load for me. I line dry whenever possible.
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Traditional ones sure are, our old one pulled 2kW when running!
Thankfully I was able to talk the MoF into upgrading to a Heat Pump condensing dryer which pulls about 400watts instead. They are triple the price of a traditional electric dryer, however the pay back time is only about 3 years and they dont burn your clothes. 
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I looked at these recently when i was in the market for new laundry set. Really liked the idea but i wasn't keen on the super-long dry times. We still have two young kids in the house and doing 3-4 loads of laundry on a Sunday afternoon is common. Either way, these heat pump units are uncommon and not widely available here in the US just yet. Maybe when this new set wears out...
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IME, I dont think they take much longer than a normal electric dryer at all. we have 2 kids under 12 and the wife is doing washing almost all week for them. Although she tends to hang out their clothes if it's sunny or hang them on a clothes line inside if it's wet. Im lazy and use the dryer from all my clothes.
It's the same here in Aus, last time I was in a white goods section of a big box store, they had 2 models, one from Samsung and one from LG.
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Btw, there is a cool Community Tesla integration for Hubitat - it's quite handy for automatically turning off things like Dishwashers, washing machines, dryers and AC systems when there is a power failure.
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We’ve been using a whirlpool heat pump dryer for about 5 years now. Zero complaints with our family of four. Drying times are maybe 20-30 minutes longer than an electric dryer for a full load.
I did need to pull the case and clean the internal condenser and evaporator coils recently. You also need to vacuum the cooling intake/exhaust intake grilles (on the back of the unit) every few months. It’s something to think about if stacking..try and provide easy access to the back of the dryer.
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I don't understand why you think that solar controllers are useless. I had a similar situation, not the same, but still. I purchased a controller 10 Best Solar Charge Controllers: In-Detail Reviews (Spring 2023) and it fits me perfectly and solved my problem. Or you can consider exploring other solar pricing options or looking into energy efficiency upgrades for your home.
Hi @user5095
I assume this was meant for me. From the link, these controllers look like they are used to control battery charging. That would be an essential component to an integrated solar/storage solution.
(I'm no expert, just a guy who clicked on a web link.)
I made a reference to demand controllers (also called load controllers), which are rather different.
Load controllers at home - Phoenix
I wanted demand/load control with more finesse. For example, I do not want to just cut power to a running heat pump when the demand is too high. My approach results in a change to thermostat setpoint, which allows the the heat pump to ramp down normally.
Thanks for the good input and suggestions for other efficiency upgrades. I'm glad that you have a system that meets your needs. 
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