Texas VPP drained my Powerwalls and now won’t let them recharge from solar?
Had what I think was my first Tesla Electric VPP event last night. Tesla exported 21.7 kWh from my Powerwalls, leaving them at ~10%.
For context, I intentionally keep my Backup Reserve at 0% during the summer because I produce enough solar during the day to fully recharge the batteries, so I’d rather use all available stored energy overnight instead of pulling from the grid. I keep a much higher reserve during seasons when we’re more prone to severe weather/outages.
After the VPP discharge, though, my Powerwalls stopped powering the house at 10%, and I ended up importing 18.9 kWh overnight/this morning for my house and car.
Now it’s morning, the app still says “supporting a grid event now,” and despite my batteries sitting at only 10%, most (but not all) of my excess solar is being sent to the grid instead of recharging the Powerwalls.
I understand exporting stored energy during a VPP event and getting compensated for it. What I don’t understand is why Tesla is still restricting my Powerwalls afterward and preventing most of my available solar from recharging them. It’s August in Texas — I want that energy stored for my AC tonight, not exported while my batteries sit nearly empty.
Is this normal VPP behavior? Also, is there any way to see
- The actual VPP $/kWh rate after an event? I didn’t realize the event was happening and can’t find a historical rate anywhere.
- Set notifications for when a grid event occurs or is scheduled to occur?
- See when the current event is supposed to end?