r/Aus_RenewableEnergy

**Note: This is beta software that is actively being developed. It is not perfect, and it can make mistakes. Please don’t make big decisions based on its output without considering things yourself. Not financial advice. **

In the vein of making cool stuff that I was wanting myself, I've developed an app that uses Amber API details mixed with publically available data, some estimations and some other algos to see if youd be better off on another provider without having to move.

It's called VoltCompare - https://voltcompare.au - I've been working on this for a month so it's still a little flakey but I'm happy enough with it for the moment. I'm still actively developing it daily however.

What it does:

Compares spot prices (Amber) against fixed-rate plans (GloBird ZEROHERO, Flow Home, Energy Locals) right now. Shows you which plan would've actually won yesterday based on your real world data, as well as over 7/14/30 days.

Only uses about 3 Amber API calls per session.

Key bits:

- Connect your Amber account to see live costs and usage

- Upload your NEM12 file if you're not on Amber (no API key needed)

- If you're not on Amber you can use an OpenElectricity API key for wholesale rate info

- Live spot price updates every 5 minutes

- % chance of solar tomorrow

- Current status of Flow Home and Globird against Amber

- Tracks peak FiT windows so you know when you're earning the most

- Shows you yesterday's winner and how much you'd save switching

- Some cool tips and analysis

Privacy-wise it's 100% browser-based, no backend, no tracking, no ads, no subs. Your API keys and data stay on your device - I dont see or store anything. It's free.

There's probably a ton of bugs and other stuff, so happy to take any suggestions for features or any bug fixes.

Known Weirdness:

- If you login as a non-amber user, its the least tested part of the app and it shows

- Flow Home is based on the structural formula, but since its algorithm is personal, the result is an ESTIMATE

Stuff I want to add:

- More gentailer information for comparison

- Android/iPhone app with notifications

- More comparison-ing

Edit: Thanks for the praise! I really appreciate it - it’s been a lot of work and testing. If you have any features you’d like added please let me know!

Any bugs too :D

EDIT: 9:16pm AEST - Apologies for the downtime folks, the issue was with my attempt to get 12 months of data. The main issue is that the Amber API is quite restrictive with API calls and getting that much data is incredibly difficult within the quick and responsive framework the app is built on.

I will work it into a V2, which will be much more expansive and involve mobile apps, but for now I’ve removed it to make sure th app, well, works.

Edit: 28/4 - I’ve made some big changes to logic, added some battery inverter settings and calculations, tariff updates, and a few other things - check the changelog.

Hi Brains Trust,

I am fairly new to all of this!

For those on the Globird Zero Hero plan and have an EV that you can't charge during 11am-2pm (work, life commitments), how do you optimise your plan and gain credits whilst charging your EV? I have scheduled my EV to charge from 12am-6am (to avoid peak consumption rate), I don't feel this is optimising my plan efficiently. Does anyone else have any ideas? I have looked at the other Globird plans but I feel Zero Hero may be better for my situation holistically.

I trialled out charging my car between 12am-6am (to avoid the peak consumption rate) but found my usage was very high for that day.

FoxESS operator recommended to change Grid Compensation to -80 to export more during scheduled Forced Discharge 6PM - 9PM to earn $1 credit and the 15c kWh. Would this help? Should I decrease the forced discharge to 7000W?

My current set up:

- FoxESS 48kW battery with 10kW inverter installed a week ago

- Have 6.6kW solar panels

- EV with 80kWh battery capacity

- Hot Tub 10A

Attached - App schedules and current plan rates