spmatich vk3spm 
My electricity supplier #Amber is big on promise and short on delivery. I spent tens of thousands on a battery, inverter and panels in June. I used an Amber recommended supplier. I purchased the technology they recommended (Sungrow). The promise is that I can use their automation to dispatch power from my battery when I choose. Soon after installation I found that the automation frequently fails to work. As per the screenshot shows, the full battery should be dispatching power, for the last 7 minutes. "You're in control". But the amount of power dispatched remains zero. Same thing happened last night. Disappointing. I have tried to contact amber support about it and I get crickets.
This 'glitch' has occurred again, twice over the last two days. #Amber App says the battery is discharging, but nothing is actually happening. What is more, my 19.2kWh battery is 100% full because it is not discharging to the grid, yet overnight the automation is *importing* power from the grid.
Same shit different day #Amberfail
Full battery, but discharge not working. In addition to having solar pv and battery, I have paid for electricity all day. This is bullshit.
Full battery, but discharge not working. In addition to having solar pv and battery, I have paid for electricity all day. This is bullshit.
continuing thread about #Amber electricity supplier.
Today the feed in tariff was going to be very negative all day (too much renewable energy in the market). So I made sure the automated curtailment feature was enabled at the start of the day. My battery charged up, and once it was 100% the curtailment kicked in and limited the inverter output. But at some point the limiting just malfunctioned, and the inverter started exporting power at 100% right in the middle of the day when the feed in was very negative.
Below I show the output from a home setup that monitors the inverter output in grafana that has been collated using a python script and influx. The app doesnt show this so clearly.
Who benefits when I export power with a negative tarrif? hint: its not me.
Today the feed in tariff was going to be very negative all day (too much renewable energy in the market). So I made sure the automated curtailment feature was enabled at the start of the day. My battery charged up, and once it was 100% the curtailment kicked in and limited the inverter output. But at some point the limiting just malfunctioned, and the inverter started exporting power at 100% right in the middle of the day when the feed in was very negative.
Below I show the output from a home setup that monitors the inverter output in grafana that has been collated using a python script and influx. The app doesnt show this so clearly.
Who benefits when I export power with a negative tarrif? hint: its not me.
At last some good news on this thread. Due to the power issues in Victoria, today has been exceptional. #Amber #Victoria #storm #power
This explains why there have been such high returns from rooftop solar PV/ battery today:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/13/victorias-electricity-spot-prices-soar-as-states-largest-coal-generator-suffers-outage
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/13/victorias-electricity-spot-prices-soar-as-states-largest-coal-generator-suffers-outage
Continuing thread on #AmberElectric. They are all over the shop with calculating my daily usage. Here is a screenshot of the app for today. Normally I would see each day update in sequence. Saturday and Sunday did not happen. On these days Im 100% sure the exports made a profit.
They still have not got back to me with the issues I raised with over a month ago, and still have not go back to me with the issues I raised last year. If anyone from #Amber is on the fedi I would love to hear from you.
They still have not got back to me with the issues I raised with over a month ago, and still have not go back to me with the issues I raised last year. If anyone from #Amber is on the fedi I would love to hear from you.
Interesting article. I use the same retailer. The inverter I installed supports automated curtailment, and I have a battery. I suspect the authors experience would have been different if their inverter had the features mine has (automated curtailment support) and they had a battery. Ambers customer service is rather poor, I have yet to receive an acknowledgment of the issues I have raised. However, I have my panels and battery installed for nearly a year, and I’m over $200 in credit so far. Mostly due to a critical power failure on Feb 13th in Victoria ($166 on one day). But this compares with what would have been a bill of $80 per month before solarpv and battery. I have yet to acquire an EV and convert my gas hot water to electric, both of which mentioned in the article are factors that increase the benefit of solar.
#AmberElectric #SolarPanel #GreenEnergy
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/19/australia-energy-bills-electricity-costs-comparison-cheapest-renewables-solar
#AmberElectric #SolarPanel #GreenEnergy
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/19/australia-energy-bills-electricity-costs-comparison-cheapest-renewables-solar
Continuing thread about #AmberElectric
I have stopped using the mobile app to control the inverter, and instead I’m using #homeassistant with modbus integration.
The results speak for themselves. Yesterday I was able to capitalise on a price spike in the wholesale market and sold $31 of leccy in one day alone.
I have stopped using the mobile app to control the inverter, and instead I’m using #homeassistant with modbus integration.
The results speak for themselves. Yesterday I was able to capitalise on a price spike in the wholesale market and sold $31 of leccy in one day alone.
Continuing thread using #AmberElectric now with #homeassistant. The #Modbus integration works well with my #Sungrow SH10RT inverter and Sungrow home battery. The home assistant #AmberElectric integration works well for the most part, but I have noticed it just stops occasionally, which is fixed by a restart of HA.
I have had to create some bespoke code to choose the best sell time for the inverter based on the feed-in forecast from Amber. The code is triggered from automation using pyscript integration. Fortunately the version of HomeAssistant I’m on includes numpy and pandas, so doing some definite integration (trapz) over the leccy forecast price does not require any python module installs. I have also included some additional features not available in the Amber automation.
1. Overnight reserve level, stop exporting power when battery is at a predetermined level to allow for overnight use, (but above minimum reserve level as per Amber app for grid outages). This means I never charge from the grid.
2. Floor price. when calculating sell time in the evening do not sell if the feed in price is below a certain level. This preserves battery cycles for better prices in the future. Floor price is also active as a trigger when exporting from the battery if the price drops while selling
3. Stop exporting power from the battery if a better price is found in the near future. Configurable threshold for the stop trigger.
4. Delay charging the battery In the morning when the feed in price is still positive, and instead export power to the grid. Later if the feed in price is still positive, opt to charge the battery in the middle of the day
I will be giving a talk on this at the Programmable.tech conference in Melbourne and Sydney in March. I will also share the python and automation yaml on gh at some point.
I have had to create some bespoke code to choose the best sell time for the inverter based on the feed-in forecast from Amber. The code is triggered from automation using pyscript integration. Fortunately the version of HomeAssistant I’m on includes numpy and pandas, so doing some definite integration (trapz) over the leccy forecast price does not require any python module installs. I have also included some additional features not available in the Amber automation.
1. Overnight reserve level, stop exporting power when battery is at a predetermined level to allow for overnight use, (but above minimum reserve level as per Amber app for grid outages). This means I never charge from the grid.
2. Floor price. when calculating sell time in the evening do not sell if the feed in price is below a certain level. This preserves battery cycles for better prices in the future. Floor price is also active as a trigger when exporting from the battery if the price drops while selling
3. Stop exporting power from the battery if a better price is found in the near future. Configurable threshold for the stop trigger.
4. Delay charging the battery In the morning when the feed in price is still positive, and instead export power to the grid. Later if the feed in price is still positive, opt to charge the battery in the middle of the day
I will be giving a talk on this at the Programmable.tech conference in Melbourne and Sydney in March. I will also share the python and automation yaml on gh at some point.
I wrote some #code to manage my #Sungrow inverter and battery #AmberElectric https://github.com/spmatich/hass-sungrowmodbus-amberelectric
Yesterday, and it looks like again today, the NEM wholesale prices are extremely high in #AmberElectric. The #HomeAssistant automation and #pyscript code I wrote performed well, picking the peak time to start exporting in a timely manner. As a result of yesterday’s export we sold $65 worth of leccy. There must be a generation problem for this to happen. Such events are rare, but they do expedite the ROI on solarPV and battery investment. #ElectricityPrice #GreenEnergy
Power generation issues continue to impact the Victorian market. Yesterday (12 June) and the day before.
The automation sold into the peak period in the evening and averaged close to $10/kWh. #AmberElectric #HomeAssistant #GreenEnergy
The automation sold into the peak period in the evening and averaged close to $10/kWh. #AmberElectric #HomeAssistant #GreenEnergy
June 2025 has become the most high return month I’ve seen so far in the #NationalElectricityMarket with #AmberElectric. Between yesterday and the 11,12 June we are up $325 in one month. I can’t see any news stories of failed generators online yet, but something must be up. I would never expect to see $16/kWh prices unless there was a supply issue. Looks like today is going the same way.
I’m doing a repeat of the #HomeAssistant and Amber talk I gave at the programmable conference earlier this year in a few days. These results will make it much more compelling.
I’m doing a repeat of the #HomeAssistant and Amber talk I gave at the programmable conference earlier this year in a few days. These results will make it much more compelling.
Stephen Collins@spmatich our experience is similar. Our plant (9.2kW panels, 10kW inverter, 24kWh batteries) has been running 6 months and while it's made a significant difference to our bills, the two big spikes in June and a few small spikes have more than offset any import cost for this month.
This offset was our overall aim when installing. We have 2 NMIs - one for the house where the plant is installed, and another for 2 guest cottages. We're definitely offsetting the house and making inroads to the cottage costs.
If our experience is typical, that argument for home solar is incredibly compelling. It would be interesting to see how using #Amber compares with other retailers who have more fixed FITs.
@spmatich there's another big spike forecast for tonight.
@trib for a market that provides energy to millions of consumers, the NEM seems to have absolutely astronomical variations in price. Normally I would expect 16c / kWh in the evening not $16 / kWh. While those of us small exporters with spare capacity in our batteries can take advantage of it, and actually help keep things running, it must be hugely expensive for some energy retailers who sell at a fixed rate, but have to buy when the prices are in the stratosphere. I can’t see how you could plan for that.
@spmatich absolutely. Fixed-price retailers must be doing some wild arbitrage and holding cheaply bought energy *somewhere* (clearly not batteries, because baseload, blahblahblah) so when the NEM spikes they can dispatch the energy bought cheaply. I'm sure some of the people on the Amber Discord would be able to paint that picture.
Myles Eftos@trib @spmatich they also buy hedges against the price. They find someone willing to bet the price won’t go over x-amount. If it doesn’t the punter gets the difference. If it does the retailers gets paid out. It’s on the ASX and everything. It’s the same hedging we do as part of customer protection (but our x is much larger than other retailers).
@spmatich @trib chatter around is suggesting the big batteries were bidding high because the could which is why it hovered around $10 for two hours (the run life of most batteries) then jumped to $16 when the gas peakers had to take over. The reason for the shortfall: I don’t know. Lack of wind maybe?
@madpilot @trib It was definitely a clear cold night over eastern Australia last night. I received this image from NOAA15 as it flew overhead at about 8:30pm. The BOM synoptic has a big high pressure system with very widely spaced isobars. So very little wind. My automation waited until the end of the spike period to start selling. From what you are saying that is when the gas peakers kicked in
ZS@spmatich That's crazy. I get a flat 10.4p/kWh here (US$0
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