So, what are you doing with the API? #65
Replies: 51 comments 101 replies
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I'll start. Obviously, I'm using Home Assistant. I've written an appdaemon script that automatically turns my air conditioner (central heating and cooling) on and off based on the price, and current temperature, and whether my wife and I are home or not (That is less interesting at the moment, given lockdown). The next thing to take into consideration is current solar generation and house consumption.
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Pretty simple process with Solcast if you have the details of your solar array. Sign up at https://toolkit.solcast.com.au/register/hobbyist to get the free account, although it says 20 API calls per day on the sign up page it seems most people get 50 - I certainly do. Once you've signed up you should be able to add a Rooftop Site, the free account allows 2 rooftops which is enough for my setup. You'll need to enter details like Latitude, Longitude of the house, array & inverter capacity and the Azimuth and Tilt of the array - you can also tweak the efficiency factor if necessary to help improve the accuracy of the estimates, best to just read the help docs for that. Each rooftop will be assigned an ID which goes into the API call, from the profile menu in the top right corner of the web page you can access the API key that's also needed in the API call. That's pretty much it. With 50 API calls a day I can update both arrays 25 times per day, which is every hour plus a spare for the occasionally needed restart. In my sensor setup I've been lazy and just retrieved an update every hour regardless of whether the sun is up or not but I'm ok so far with just hourly updates of the forecast. Definitely room for improvement there to maximise the number of calls per day based on the number of daylight hours but for my current purposes it seems like overkill. Let me know if you have more questions or if you have issues with getting any of it up and running. |
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That is cool - I'll have to install it and have a play! |
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Thanks @solrai38 . With your instructions I was able to get this up and running for my Dual Array system. Enjoyed watching my MPPT watts output on Fronius solarweb and comparing to the forecast from Solcast. There was a predicted dip down from around 1000w to 300w at 11am, and then the actual system later clocked in at 270w on one of the arrays. So it seems to be pretty "real". Now just to figure out what to do with this data . . . . .. Thanks Again |
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Glad you got it up and running ok @RatMondeo and that it's giving forecasts that seem to be borne out in reality. Let me know if you come up with interesting ways to use the forecast data. |
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@solrai38 I have noticed that Solcast have a "Tuning" process that allows you to upload your data so they can tune your site for shading and other impacts so the forecast is even more accurate. Have you had a look at this, what are your thoughts? |
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Smarts around car charging
Sep 1, 2021 1:32:46 PM Myles Eftos ***@***.***>:
… Everyone in the office is insanely interested in what you are using the API for.
We'd love to hear about the automation you are building or the reports you are building.
So, come on! Time for some showing off!
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What car do you have? |
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Same question - what car do you have? I have a model 3 and keen to get it charging based on price signal |
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Tesla
…On 1/9/21 6:34 pm, Myles Eftos wrote:
What car do you have?
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Tesla powerwall or vehicle? |
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I have a selection of grafana reports from my PV inverter, Amber electric and other environmental metrics.
I have a more generic view in home assistant so the family can plan around energy price
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This is in the kitchen/lounge so everyone gets a sense of what's going on with prices. Especially around that hot-spot for pricing around dinner time. . . . . Again, using Home Assistant of course. Purple is super-cheap . . . . . 14c and under.
I think it has really conditioned me into being responsive because I even think energy is expensive (and get the urge to turn stuff off) when I see the red LED's are glowing on my sons bed . . . . even thought it's not at all connected . . . Oh yea .. . . |
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@RatMondeo how did you get the lights going, please? I have home assistant with the Amber integration. Also have a Philips Hue strip. |
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Hi, I am not great at Home Assistant stuff, so there are likely better ways of going about it. I created an Automation following the details below. (Configuration->Automation) Then duplicated that Automation and adjusted for each price range and associated light colour. I also run another Automation to turn the light off at 10:25pm. Let me know if you have any questions . .. Automation: Trigger Type: Numeric state Condition: Actions:
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It's not as interesting as anything above, but this is what I've been doing with the API today. The code's online if you're interested. |
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Hi @GrahamLea, Thanks |
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I'm planning to use my data as the basis of a model (in Excel) for how a new solar system might work based on our historical energy usage. Anyone who wants to download a CSV of their daily usage and/or cost data without having to learn how to use the API can use this tool to get it. Also, because the code is open source, people who want to build other tools using the API might find some useful functions in there which they can re-use (with proper attribution as described in the license 😉). |
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This is cool & very useful to compare against bills. Thanks.
From: Graham Lea ***@***.***>
Date: Sunday, 12 September 2021 at 00:10
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: vijvis ***@***.***>, Comment ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
It's not as interesting as anything above, but this is what I've been doing with the API today. Code's online if you're interested.
#70<#70>
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Yep, it could definitely be used for that. Because it summarises up to daily buckets, it might not be the best source of data if someone is switching to or from a time-of-use tariff, as the usage in peak and non-peak periods might be important for doing a good comparison. The tariff info is in the API, though, so if someone wanted to they could tweak the tool to bucket by day/channel/tariff rather than just day/channel as it does now. I just didn't need that granularity for what I'm doing (so far). |
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Just ran this on macOS Big Sur & worked perfectly. Got data downloaded from 27 November 2020 to date. I think that was the date I moved to Amber.
We are building a new home next year so this will help with solar planning.
Thanks, heaps.
Get Outlook for Android<https://aka.ms/ghei36>
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From: Graham Lea ***@***.***>
Sent: Sunday, September 12, 2021 12:10:56 AM
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: vijvis ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
It's not as interesting as anything above, but this is what I've been doing with the API today. Code's online if you're interested.
#70<#70>
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Awesome! So great to hear it was useful for someone else. 👍 |
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Thanks for this. I will try out this automation with my light strip.
From: RatMondeo ***@***.***>
Date: Saturday, 11 September 2021 at 17:09
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: vijvis ***@***.***>, Comment ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
Hi,
I am not great at Home Assistant stuff, so there are likely better ways of going about it.
I created an Automation following the details below. (Configuration->Automation) Then duplicated that Automation and adjusted for each price range and associated light colour.
I then have them all running.
I also run another Automation to turn the light off at 10:25pm.
Let me know if you have any questions . ..
Automation:
Trigger Type: Numeric state
Entity: sensor.general_price
Above 1
Below 14
[Capture0]<https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/34613491/132939769-95aab150-d849-4dab-91b2-831470c7024b.JPG>
Condition:
Condition Type: time
Fixed time
After 06:30 am
Fixed time
Before 10:24 pm
Mon - Sunday
[Capture1]<https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/34613491/132939665-8f0f5b0e-15c1-434b-9bad-2ac0175d4648.JPG>
Actions:
Action Type: Call Service
Service: light.turn_on
Target: yeelight (or choose your hue light)
Color name: choose your colour
[Capture2]<https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/34613491/132939683-993e9bb4-56b1-472d-a11f-e4b861ab23c2.JPG>
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I use Node Red as my primary engine and then feed stuff into Home Assistant when required. My system is setup for grid arbitrage and am just putting tweaks to it as i go - only got the batteries and inverters for them last month
So here is my main energy screen - enables me to see the current and forecast prices as well as the 5 min interval prices for Buy and Sell It also lists my house consumption, grid, Solar and Battery - averaged over 1,5,15 minute intervals.
Heating and Cooling - just got a new AC with Airtouch so am busy automating that and integrating it in
and the battery control screeen which is a WIP at the moment
Obviously my strong suite is not visual presentation !! Our node red system keeps track of overall house useage, amber prices and battery SOC, as well as expected solar output and then schedules loads around these - some things can be turned on automatically - such as the pool pump, others have emails sent out to advise it would be a good time to turn the dishwasher on, put on a load of washing etc. Today the system estimated we would get 95Kwh of Solar (seems to be tracking pretty closely at the moment) so it ran the batteries down overnight to 2% SOC, then took up the load this morning - but rather than charge from excess solar - suggested to hold off charing until 10am as Amber Solar prices were >= 5c, then suggested to put the batteries on auto charge mode, put the heatpump on to heat the downstairs area of the house (Hydronic heating) and push the pool pump on time back to 12:30 I am trying to get all of these suggestions done through telegram bots at the moment but struggling with that short term (not enough time in the day) Craig |
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This is very cool. I use node red for everything and have ditched home assistant. |
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Hi @craigcurtin-dev! I think I saw you comment on some code I wrote - you're getting data from the Alpha batteries in a much nicer way - are you scraping their servers, or did you end up attempting to use my 'fake server' to get the data - if the latter, do you have your own code up somewhere for this? |
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Automated battery charging/discharging, and HWS control based on realtime pricing and current PV output! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk8ODGYoLLs&list=PLT7ckgz8vcoaKxfTzRYrETgsowRkP41y3&index=1&t=7s I'm in the process of plugging in weather forecasting, so if looks like it's going to be a low-solar day tomorrow, tweak the price thresholds so the battery charges up on cheap power overnight. |
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I'm just pulling data so i can search for data-points such as how many times does the value "cost" have a - after it, and then manually checking how many times there is a sequential negative cost event etc, I'm mainly using the API to gather information manually from the JSON file so as to get a better result from load shifting. |
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The tuning process has been removed as of June and they have instead allowed you to define two solar plants instead
Craig
From: RatMondeo ***@***.***>
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2021 11:10 AM
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: Craig Curtin ***@***.***>; Comment ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
@solrai38<https://github.com/solrai38> I have noticed that Solcast have a "Tuning" process that allows you to upload your data so they can tune your site for shading and other impacts so the forecast is even more accurate. Have you had a look at this, what are your thoughts?
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I am feeding current price data into OpenHAB along with current usage via Rainforest Eagle that talks to the meter via Zigbee. Some basic automation of reserve cycle heating based on price (mainly to shut it off). Looking to get the home solar figures in there so I can calculate a true renewables figures and use this for automation as well as price. |
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@madpilot - I was using your ESP32 code to make a simple desktop LED to show the current kWh price; soon to add a 10A relay to automatically control a heater (interlocked with PIR sensor for extra safety). Just for anyone else doing this, note the difference between HTTPClient.h - espressif/arduino-esp32 & amcewen/HttpClient: Arduino HTTP library - same name, different libraries. I wasted a fair bit of time figuring this out :) |
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Oh. Yeah. Sorry about that! I've updated the gist |
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I just made an ios shortcut in siri shortcuts app where you get real price with a voice command and also made a youtube video on it
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@madpilot helped me on my way with this back on March 12. I don't use HA but an automation hub called Homey Pro from Athom. Since I started I have now developed a functioning system that has the following basic functions built around the Amber API and the data I pull from my Tesla Gateway and the Fronius inverter.
I now have all of my Solar system data on a wall mounted dashboard as well. No where near as sophisticated as those I have seen developed by the HA guys, but good enough. I would be happy to share any code I have developed as I'm sure someone may come back with improvements, but as I'm not using HA it may not be of use, although the main algorithms are pretty standard javascript. I hope this is of some interest. I have certainly learned a lot doing that. I used to write a lot of code in the far distant past but never Java. I started out using copilot (which can be quite frustrating) and found this a good technique to learn a new language. |
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@madpilot helped me on my way with this back on March 12. I don't use HA but an automation hub called Homey Pro from Athom. Since I started I have now developed a functioning system that has the following basic functions built around the Amber API and the data I pull from my Tesla Gateway and the Fronius inverter. Alerts on my Apple Watch (via Homey Pro) et al. re Amber sell and buy prices, basically when the FIT changes from -ve to +ve, when the sell price goes -ve, and when the sell price is low (set to <10c at the moment but it can be adjusted. Alerts for when SmartShift changes state. Charging, Discharging, Preserve and back to consume. This has been great for those times when I know I need extra power to charge my car, or run the heater overnight, and I don't want to Sell, or at other times I don't want to charge. Curtailment of my Fronius inverter. I started thinking I would use Solcast as the basis for this, but even Solcast ended up being too inaccurate to do this properly. My current solution is simple. Using the Amber API I calculate the number of hours (I'm pretty sure you can only get the number of 30 min slots) the the FIT will be negative for. Then using my current battery level I calculate how long it will take at the current solar production level to take the battery to 100%. If this time is greater than the negative FIT duration then do nothing. If it is less then calculate the WMaxLmtPct value to send to the Fronius inverter so that 100% will not be reached before that time. I run this every 10 minutes. I actually have 2 inverters, an old Solax, and I can't curtail that one, so the algorithm takes that into account. So far this is working well. I now have all of my Solar system data on a wall mounted dashboard as well. No where near as sophisticated as those I have seen developed by the HA guys, but good enough. I would be happy to share any code I have developed as I'm sure someone may come back with improvements, but as I'm not using HA it may not be of use, although the main algorithms are pretty standard javascript. I hope this is of some interest. I have certainly learned a lot doing that. I used to write a lot of code in the far distant past but never Java. I started out using copilot (which can be quite frustrating) and found this a good technique to learn a new language. |
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Thanks for sharing, I'm I big Home Assistant guy, but I do appreciate the other eco systems out there and at the end of the day I'm all for open data so people can utilise in the systems they want to.
I'm very interested in how you are determining which states Smart shift is going to as this is really useful to understand what it is trying to do. Indeed the AmberAPI sharing which mode SmartShift is currently in would be a useful extension. I can tell when the battery switches to Import/ Charging or Export/ Discharging, with the help of the Powerwall Gateway Grid Services flag, but have not been able to determine rules for when SmartShift is in Preserve or Consume modes. Can you share how you are determining those modes of SmartShift? |
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Sure, I have some Javascript I can share along with an explanation. What is the best way to share? I don't have a Github account. |
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You can share here, or maybe even start a new discussion. |
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Ok, I’ll start a new discussion, I’ll call it “Amber SmartShift State Alerts”Peter0419852304On 25 Apr 2024, at 11:44 AM, Mark Purcell ***@***.***> wrote:
You can share here, or maybe even start a new discussion.
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Done
… On 25 Apr 2024, at 11:44 AM, Mark Purcell ***@***.***> wrote:
You can share here, or maybe even start a new discussion.
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I know that this is not an Amber API issue (it is working beautifully), but I was getting the most use out of it by integrating the Amber API data with the data from my Tesla Gateway 2. All of a sudden Tesla have made a change and I can no longer login to the Tesla Gateway from it's IP Address. I get the error in the screenshot below. I was hoping that one of you may be having the same issue and know a way to fix this. |
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that error suggests the tesla is no longer on the network, at least at that ip. |
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You were correct. Although my router showed it as connected it obviously wasn't. I used Tesla One told it to forget my network and then reconnected it. It's now working. Thanks for the reply. |
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Integrating my Shelly EM power meter and the Amber Controlled load price to turn off/On my Hot water system. |
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This is more of a comment on how I would like to be using the API, rather than how I am using it today. I would first and foremost like to be able to issue 'manual control' commands back to control my batteries (Tesla Powerwall 2). This is the missing piece of the puzzle for me. In short, I would like to write my own algorithm to either work alongside SmartShift, or replace it for our use case. It was explained to me via support ticket, the parameters used that SmartShift uses to make decisions. I would like to use some different parameters. First consideration in my case - I have a constant workload at home, depending on time of year, of about 2kw, 24/7 (varying by 0.4kw either side). This would be one consideration in my planning of how we would buy and sell electricity in the day, as it is a known factor, that is site specific. I am sure SmartShift will eventually figure this out, but after my first month, it doesn't seem quite there yet (my suggestion in my ticket was allow SmartShift to get some 'hints', including constant workload, to help it make better decisions). Knowing my workload may influence how much I keep in the battery to 'get us through' until pricing is cheaper if I was able to buy earlier at a cheaper price. Second thing is I would like the algorithm to consider is the actual (well, approximate) cost of import vs likely or current sell price, as well as future pricing, to decide when to sell, how much to sell, and so on. Not just on a short-ish trajectory, but for the day ahead, and what we're seeing as common in the season. I believe we could make estimates on cost of import working directly with the Telsa Powerwall API to see what we are doing periodically (say every 5 minutes), and the Amber API to get the cost at that time, to figure out approximate total cost of incoming electricity, including solar imports (which I would assign a cost of $0). I could source the 'what are we doing' via amber as well instead of Tesla, but it would not be as up to date if this was made available (I'm not sure I see it at first glance, but could have easily missed it) - this would make sense to support all batteries you support. From there, I would be thinking I would store that average cost of current electricity held in battery in some variable, and be looking at current cost to charge more, current solar forecasts, electricity buy and sell price forecasts, and also want to consider in terms of buying and selling what the cost is, but how much electricity we will really get less expected overheads (as we don't have 100% efficiency to buy or sell), to then make decisions from there based on all the data we have available (from amber, Tesla and solar forecast data, as well as array performance estimates). Third thing I would like to address is the Tesla Powerwall API battery charge state vs. real-world usable charge state. The Tesla Powerwall API in my case reflects ~5% left in the battery, when this is not actually usable energy, and I know you're reading the same values - so Smartshift thinks there is 5% available, which there isn't in real terms. The Tesla app at this point reflects 0% and will not use that last 5%. I would, as a result, want the personalised algorithm to consider the 'usable' battery rather than what is actually left in there technically speaking - because it is only the usable capacity we can use, so that is what decisions would need to be based on. To workaround this issue for the moment, I've told SmartShift to align at 5%, but it means the battery numbers SmartShift is going off remain wrong, but at least it knows it cannot discharge below 5%. What it doesn't known is as a result, the numbers are offset by a variable amount (which shrinks as you approach and reach 100%). This also impacts the statement Amber makes about not discharging below 25%... in my case, reality is, Amber will discharge the batteries to 19-20% usable, then stop, because of this offset between API and real usable capacity. Forth thing I would like to do is add some decisions for future control (rather than me say, staying up to 'control my battery') - say 'at 3AM, if pricing < $x, or until pricing is < $x, then, charge battery until pricing > $y or battery charge % == $z)... things like this would be useful. If I could give SmartShift programmatically determined manual direction, via the API, that would be awesome, but would also be happy to write my own algorithm from scratch that fits my needs exactly - either way, I really need (or desperately want) 'manual control' to be available via API. Is there any chance you could make this available to us? Pretty please! I am super keen. So keen I've considered using a different API that can control and iOS app and click buttons for me (Quamotion - https://github.com/quamotion/python)... but that's a total hackjob workaround, and I would much rather use a proper API published by Amber! I also understand much of what I want could be written into SmartShift, and a lot of it is there in some form (just not exactly how I want it to work for my specific use case). If you choose to add similar features or address some of the things I want to address in time directly there in SmartShift, I'd be very happy with that too. Other things I want to do (like some more logic based decisions) may be more advanced than you want in an app form. Either way, I am happy to experiment with writing my own bits and pieces, and share them in case you want to include them in your own software later too if you can please, please, please provide 'manual control' in the API! |
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A Smartshift API is in the works. No ETA though, as it relies on some other work that is still in progress. |
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Thanks @madpilot! If you need an Alpha or Beta tester, I am SUPER keen! |
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Same here. I'm assuming the other work is the EV pilot. It seems to me that the capabilities being developed for this are pretty much the same as what I would want to manage my PW2. |
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No, EVs is unrelated. We need to change the way we send commands so you lot don't bring the entire world down. |
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Yeah, I wouldn’t trust us either 🤣 |
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You must not understand how the.vendor portals (tesla, fronius, solaredge, sungrow etc work) - what you are asking for is amber to individually send those commands just for your battery - rather than a bulk command to say allow all batteries in Sydney in the tesla portal that are registered to amber to do the same thing (I.e. one api call versus hundreds/thousands. To.do what you want you have to take local control - have a look at.home assistant as an example
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From: gmo81 ***@***.***>
Sent: Saturday, June 22, 2024 12:29:46 PM
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: Craig Curtin ***@***.***>; Mention ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
This is more of a comment on how I would like to be using the API, rather than how I am using it today.
I would first and foremost like to be able to issue 'manual control' commands back to control my batteries (Tesla Powerwall 2). This is the missing piece of the puzzle for me.
In short, I would like to write my own algorithm to either work alongside SmartShift, or replace it for our use case.
It was explained to me via support ticket, the parameters used that SmartShift uses to make decisions. I would like to use some different parameters.
First consideration in my case - I have a constant workload at home, depending on time of year, of about 2kw, 24/7 (varying by 0.4kw either side).
This would be one consideration in my planning of how we would buy and sell electricity in the day, as it is a known factor, that is site specific. I am sure SmartShift will eventually figure this out, but after my first month, it doesn't seem quite there yet (my suggestion in my ticket was allow SmartShift to get some 'hints', including constant workload, to help it make better decisions).
Knowing my workload may influence how much I keep in the battery to 'get us through' until pricing is cheaper if I was able to buy earlier at a cheaper price.
Second thing is I would like the algorithm to consider is the actual (well, approximate) cost of import vs likely or current sell price, as well as future pricing, to decide when to sell, how much to sell, and so on. Not just on a short-ish trajectory, but for the day ahead, and what we're seeing as common in the season.
I believe we could make estimates on cost of import working directly with the Telsa Powerwall API to see what we are doing periodically (say every 5 minutes), and the Amber API to get the cost at that time, to figure out approximate total cost of incoming electricity, including solar imports (which I would assign a cost of $0). I could source the 'what are we doing' via amber as well instead of Tesla, but it would not be as up to date if this was made available (I'm not sure I see it at first glance, but could have easily missed it) - this would make sense to support all batteries you support.
From there, I would be thinking I would store that average cost of current electricity held in battery in some variable, and be looking at current cost to charge more, current solar forecasts, electricity buy and sell price forecasts, and also want to consider in terms of buying and selling what the cost is, but how much electricity we will really get less expected overheads (as we don't have 100% efficiency to buy or sell), to then make decisions from there based on all the data we have available (from amber, Tesla and solar forecast data, as well as array performance estimates).
Third thing I would like to address is the Tesla Powerwall API battery charge state vs. real-world usable charge state. The Tesla Powerwall API in my case reflects ~5% left in the battery, when this is not actually usable energy, and I know you're reading the same values - so Smartshift thinks there is 5% available, which there isn't in real terms. The Tesla app at this point reflects 0% and will not use that last 5%.
I would, as a result, want the personalised algorithm to consider the 'usable' battery rather than what is actually left in there technically speaking - because it is only the usable capacity we can use, so that is what decisions would need to be based on. To workaround this issue for the moment, I've told SmartShift to align at 5%, but it means the battery numbers SmartShift is going off remain wrong, but at least it knows it cannot discharge below 5%. What it doesn't known is as a result, the numbers are offset by a variable amount (which shrinks as you approach and reach 100%). This also impacts the statement Amber makes about not discharging below 25%... in my case, reality is, Amber will discharge the batteries to 19-20% usable, then stop, because of this offset between API and real usable capacity.
Forth thing I would like to do is add some decisions for future control (rather than me say, staying up to 'control my battery') - say 'at 3AM, if pricing < $x, or until pricing is < $x, then, charge battery until pricing > $y or battery charge % == $z)... things like this would be useful.
If I could give SmartShift programmatically determined manual direction, via the API, that would be awesome, but would also be happy to write my own algorithm from scratch that fits my needs exactly - either way, I really need (or desperately want) 'manual control' to be available via API.
Is there any chance you could make this available to us? Pretty please! I am super keen. So keen I've considered using a different API that can control and iOS app and click buttons for me (Quamotion - https://github.com/quamotion/python)... but that's a total hackjob workaround, and I would much rather use a proper API published by Amber!
I also understand much of what I want could be written into SmartShift, and a lot of it is there in some form (just not exactly how I want it to work for my specific use case). If you choose to add similar features or address some of the things I want to address in time directly there in SmartShift, I'd be very happy with that too.
Other things I want to do (like some more logic based decisions) may be more advanced than you want in an app form. Either way, I am happy to experiment with writing my own bits and pieces, and share them in case you want to include them in your own software later too if you can please, please, please provide 'manual control' in the API!
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Thanks for this discussion. I am following with interest.
So - does this make sense, or is my logic flawed and would I get cheaper power by using different logic? |
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EMHASS does the same thing as Smartshift - it's a linear optimisation solver that is designed to minimise cost/maximise earnings. The main difference being you can tune the parameters of EMHASS yourself.
It does, but the solar forecasts aren't great at the moment. EMHASS will do better if you use something like Solcast or Forecast.Solar.
Heating and cooling is an interesting topic, as the constraints aren't purely financial - it's tricky to put dollar terms on not freezing to death. I've actually been thinking about this lately, as I'm also in Victoria and wearing fingerless gloves. If you are able to model the temperature response to heating and cooling, we can turn that in to a power, and therefore a cost constraint. If you know the power required to heat the house 1 degree (for a given ambient temp), and the heat loss factor for the house, you can build out a first pass optimised heating plan based on prices. Then feed the generated power load forecast into EMHASS as a deferrable load, and see what plan it produces for the battery. I think - I need to talk to the data nerds at work. |
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Tesla shut down the localAPI control a few years ago. Although you can still switch to off grid mode via localAPI, which is useful for curtailment. The official ways to control your Powerwall are via the FleetAPI for consumer facing and a 'controlled' VPP API called PowerHub. I have four scripts using the FleetAPI to Charge/ Discharge/ Preserve and Consume, either NetZero or Teslemetery/ Home Assistant can provide you 3rd party access to the FleetAPI. Charging can be automated:
Discharging can be automated
I believe the VPP API allows for setting dynamic power levels as well. |
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I have EMHASS controlling my HVAC for summer (easier) and winter (more complex), below: In short I have defined the cooling/ heating factor in W / °C and then use EMHASS to adjust the temp set point. Summer is easier as the sunniest/ hottest part of the day and the cheapest price of the day are generally aligned so I just setup the number of hours over my setpoint as run hours. Winter is more problematic, but the new end_timestep allows scheduling overnight in a similar fashion.
Some great discussions here about HVAC/ thermal optimisations : |
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EMHASS will calculate that optimisation for you, for both your battery but also your household loads. (SmartShift only optimisations for your home battery but soon EVs as well.)
You can see here in my forecast that it has scheduled my loads; EV charging, pool Heater, hot water and home battery charging to 100% to all complete before sunset because the cost of consumption for those is the lowest at that time. It then schedules export of my home battery during the evening price peak, but holds back reserves until. You can see my heaters in the load forecast and it takes this into account when working out how much to export and how much to hold back. SmartShift does the same calculation. So it does work well in the Victorian winter, when solar production is low and overnight consumption demands are high. After 12.30 today when tomorrows prices are released it will calculate the optimal overnight charging requirements to get though the morning peak as well. |
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I've been using it historically just to turn off all my heating/cooling in the house when a spike comes using first IFTTT and now Home Assistant. However, I've just taken it to the next level, now I set an offset based on the power descriptor tags. For example when the price is low, my climate system will aim for the target temperature, say 21. When it's high it'll aim for between 18 and 24. Insulation is good in my house, so intending to just leave it on 24/7. |
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If you are on FB – then check out the Home Assistant with Amber forum – Mark Purcell is quite active up there and is one of the leading proponents of EMhass and appears to know it inside out.
Craig
From: petebitt99 ***@***.***>
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 9:34 AM
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: Craig Curtin ***@***.***>; Mention ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
Thanks for this discussion. I am following with interest.
I would appreciate your view on a couple of thoughts I have on the topic.
1. Not sure if this is one of the basis' of SS decisions but I note that when SS decides to Discharge it does it with an explanation that we are getting a good price for our Solar. It does not seem to have an awareness that in Victoria at this time it is basically cold with no sun, and therefore the power in my battery has been purchased from the grid at the lowest possible price. In which case the FIT is generally not a good price.
2. Is the EMHASS algorithm, or simply your way of thinking, based on mathematical models to reduce your energy cost to the lowest possible value regardless of your batteries SoC? The reason for my question is that for me, based in Victoria, and being the middle of winter, I simply set a target that my battery is 100% full (sometimes @ 40c/kW) by 3pm and that all power intensive loads are carried out before 3pm. I have 27kW of battery, and when it is cold and I'm running heaters I need more than that to get me from 3pm until 9 or 10am the next day, so generally need a charge overnight to get me through. It would be great to be able to schedule that based on the price data we get back through the Amber API. Bring on that SS API!!
So - does this make sense, or is my logic flawed and would I get cheaper power by using different logic?
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Thanks for jumping in Mark.
Quick question – is there a way to set demand tariffs in EMHass ? Currently all of my stuff is locally controlled in Node Red – but I keep on meaning to try and get around to trying Emhass – if it supported demand tariffs that might be something that tipped me over the edge
Craig
From: Mark Purcell ***@***.***>
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 10:26 AM
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: Craig Curtin ***@***.***>; Mention ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
2. Is the EMHASS algorithm, or simply your way of thinking, based on mathematical models to reduce your energy cost to the lowest possible value regardless of your batteries SoC? The reason for my question is that for me, based in Victoria, and being the middle of winter, I simply set a target that my battery is 100% full (sometimes @ 40c/kW) by 3pm and that all power intensive loads are carried out before 3pm. I have 27kW of battery, and when it is cold and I'm running heaters I need more than that to get me from 3pm until 9 or 10am the next day, so generally need a charge overnight to get me through. It would be great to be able to schedule that based on the price data we get back through the Amber API. Bring on that SS API!!
EMHASS will calculate that optimisation for you, for both your battery but also your household loads. (SmartShift only optimisations for your home battery but soon EVs as well.)
image.png (view on web)<https://github.com/amberelectric/public-api/assets/79175134/41fc9b4d-eb83-4bd4-9977-af957b255b6c>
You can see here in my forecast that it has scheduled my loads; EV charging, pool Heater, hot water and home battery charging to 100% to all complete before sunset because the cost of consumption for those is the lowest at that time. It then schedules export of my home battery during the evening price peak, but holds back reserves until.
You can see my heaters in the load forecast and it takes this into account when working out how much to export and how much to hold back. SmartShift does the same calculation. So it does work well in the Victorian winter, when solar production is low and overnight consumption demands are high.
—
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NodeRed and EMHASS work really well together. cf @rcruikshank above. EMHASS doesn't have a calculation for demand tariff per say, but you can control the inputs and outputs and modify them as you want. So you could use HA to keep track of your highest peak consumption window so you know what your demand tariff bill will look like. You could also inflate the prices during the demand tariff window before you inject into EMHASS so it would avoid importing at that time and then finally you could have conditions on your battery automation so even if EMHASS did want to import you could blacklist your demand window so it wouldn't import. Demand tariffs are hard to optimise for but it is something I'm going to need to get across as Energex are going to be introducing a reverse demand tariff with their two way tariffs as a disincentive for exporting during the day. My best advice is to switch to a ToU tariff without a demand component if you can.. |
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Thanks Mark – whilst I could switch back to a TOU tariff with no demand window – it would only be for a year when Ausgrid then make demand tariffs compulsory. So better off with the pain now as it comes with some other benefits.
We already have the feed in “tax” from Ausgrid and I have setup my inverters to ramp down output during that time so all good there.
Might set myself a task to start with emhass and see how I go
Will investigate the link you provided to Cruickshank – thanks
Craig
From: Mark Purcell ***@***.***>
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2024 10:58 AM
To: amberelectric/public-api ***@***.***>
Cc: Craig Curtin ***@***.***>; Mention ***@***.***>
Subject: Re: [amberelectric/public-api] So, what are you doing with the API? (Discussion #65)
Quick question – is there a way to set demand tariffs in EMHass ? Currently all of my stuff is locally controlled in Node Red – but I keep on meaning to try and get around to trying Emhass – if it supported demand tariffs that might be something that tipped me over the edge
NodeRed and EMHASS work really well together. cf @rcruikshank<https://github.com/rcruikshank> above.
EMHASS doesn't have a calculation for demand tariff per say, but you can control the inputs and outputs and modify them as you want. So you could use HA to keep track of your highest peak consumption window so you know what your demand tariff bill will look like.
You could also inflate the prices during the demand tariff window before you inject into EMHASS so it would avoid importing at that time and then finally you could have conditions on your battery automation so even if EMHASS did want to import you could blacklist your demand window so it wouldn't import. Demand tariffs are hard to optimise for but it is something I'm going to need to get across as Energex are going to be introducing a reverse demand tariff with their two way tariffs as a disincentive for exporting during the day.
My best advice is to switch to a ToU tariff without a demand component if you can..
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and others
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Everyone in the office is insanely interested in what you are using the API for.
We'd love to hear about the automation you are building or the reports you are building.
So, come on! Time for some showing off!
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