It looks like California NEM 3.0 may not be worth the trouble in my case

[foofuzi]

I haven't all the data entered into a spreadsheet yet, but there are a few limitations I see that make me think going off-grid instead of grid-tied NEM 3.0 is the better path for me, for a Solar + Battery system:

1. There is a mandatory charge based on $8 x PV kW of your solar array. Initially, the charge will be less but it will eventually ramp up to the full charge that must be paid and cannot be offset by the energy you sell to the grid.

2. On average only two hours will have best charge to sell back to the grid, 7pm and 8pm hours of $0.30/kW-h, IIRC.

3. Solar array oversizing is limited to 150% of the size needed based the last 12 mo.'s usage.

4. It remains to be seen what rates the 2 year recalculation will yield, versus the 9 year fixed rates option.

In my case I only used 5112 kW-h in the past 12 months, with an average bill of $100/mo.
Highest month: Aug 2022 659 kW-h, highest day Sep 3, 2022 used 40 kW-h, highest hour Sep 02, 2022 10pm used 8 kW-h.

A 8kW solar array will have me paying $64/mo. at a minimum under NEM 3.0.

I'm thinking off-grid will allow me more freedom, cost less, and potentially reduce my utility bill well below the minimum $64 mo.

Happy New Year

 

[MisterSandals]

I think NEM 3.0 is shelved, so a lot of your info is not current. Have you seen this thread?

California Members: NEM3.0 impact on NEM1/2 customers and what to do?

[EDIT 1/8/23: since the Final Decision that the CPUC approved last month was very different than their Preliminary Decision from December 2021 when I started this thread, much/most of the information in this post as well as the early pages of this thread are now outdated and incorrect. Rather...

diysolarforum.com

Skip to roughly page 10 for new December developments.

 

[400bird]

I haven't all the data entered into a spreadsheet yet, but there are a few limitations I see that make me think going off-grid instead of grid-tied NEM 3.0 is the better path for me, for a Solar + Battery system:

1. There is a mandatory charge based on $8 x PV kW of your solar array. Initially, the charge will be less but it will eventually ramp up to the full charge that must be paid and cannot be offset by the energy you sell to the grid.

I'm pretty sure the flat $ per kW charge was cancelled. That was part of the successor tariff.

2. On average only two hours will have best charge to sell back to the grid, 7pm and 8pm hours of $0.30/kW-h, IIRC.

3. Solar array oversizing is limited to 150% of the size needed based the last 12 mo.'s usage.

4. It remains to be seen what rates the 2 year recalculation will yield, versus the 9 year fixed rates option.

Can you share more info on this? I've never seen anything about a 9 year fixed rate

In my case I only used 5112 kW-h in the past 12 months, with an average bill of $100/mo.
Highest month: Aug 2022 659 kW-h, highest day Sep 3, 2022 used 40 kW-h, highest hour Sep 02, 2022 10pm used 8 kW-h.

A 8kW solar array will have me paying $64/mo. at a minimum under NEM 3.0.

If your peak use is 8kWh, I'm not sure why you'd put on a 8kW system. The point of net metering is to average, you don't need to cover peak usage.

I'm thinking off-grid will allow me more freedom, cost less, and potentially reduce my utility bill well below the minimum $64 mo.

You could finalize the paperwork and still get in under nem 2.0, if you get far enough through the paperwork before April, when the next program.

Happy New Year

You too