Powerwall Operating Modes – Tasmania

Tesla Powerwall is more than sleek piece of wall décor for energy storage.

Through the Tesla app, Powerwall operating modes can be customised to provide intelligent power management and real cost-savings.

While this gives significant scope for power management optimisation, it also presents the inevitable conundrum of choice – which is the best selection for you?

To assist our Customers with this decision, Mode has put together the following overview of current Powerwall operating modes, and a summary of our recommendations for management of Powerwall in Tasmania.

Please note – the following only applies to domestic Powerwall  use.

Power Usage in Tasmania

Tasmania currently has 2 electrical power retailers, Aurora & 1st Energy. Both retailers offer very similar domestic power tariffs to customers.

Tariffs relevant to solar and battery installations are:

• Tariff 93 (Time of Use). There are two ‘Peak’ times every 24 hours (Monday – Friday): 7-10 am, & 4-9 pm
• Tariff 31 (General Light & Power)
• Tariff 41 (Heating & Hot Water) (less common)

Tasmania is the only State in Australia that has 2 Peak periods for its Time-of-Use Tariff.

With Tasmania’s mild summers and cold winters, domestic power usage tends to vary considerably between the seasons. This places varying loads on the different tariffs over the course of the year.

Added to this, our southerly latitude also means that solar generation varies markedly over the year. Short, cloudy Winter days drastically reduces solar generation, which reduces the amount of power available for battery charging and energy storage.

In this scenario, best use of Powerwall operating modes may be a little different than in other States – and may even vary over the course of the year.

Domestic Powerwall Operating Modes

Powerwall offers 4 different Operating Modes to use in conjunction with Solar PV.

We’ve provided a summary of these operating modes & their functions below  (click image to enlarge)

Currently both Advanced Time-Based Control options (Balanced & Cost Saving) only allow you to select one ‘Peak’ time period every 24 hours.

Recommendations for Use

Tariff 31/41

As may be seen in the table above, if you are on Tariff 31/41, there are 2 options for Powerwall use – Backup Only, and Self-Powered.

Benefits offered by each option are self-evident; your choice will be determined by your intended use of Powerwall.

Tariff 93

If you are on Tariff 93, you have a more significant range of options.

Backup Only

Uncommon for use with Tariff 93.

Self-Powered

Possibly a good choice for Summer (when solar generation may help cover Peak periods).

Not recommended if you are unable to fully charge your battery during the day, or consistently run out of battery storage overnight.

Advanced Time-Based Control

Specifically designed to work with Time-of-Use Tariffs to make the most of your solar/battery system, even though you can currently only select one ‘Peak’ period per 24 hours.

For best use of the Time-Based Control modes, we recommend selecting the ‘Peak’ period when you typically consume the most power (generally the Evening Peak, between 4pm – 9pm).