Smart Optimization
Important: Solar forecasting must be configured for accurate scheduling — either install the Solcast Solar HA integration (recommended, PowerSync auto-detects it) or enter your Solcast API key directly in PowerSync's Weather & Solar Forecast settings. Without solar forecast data, the optimizer cannot see when solar will be available and will make purely price-based decisions — which can result in unnecessary grid imports even when solar is available.
PowerSync includes a built-in optimizer that calculates the optimal battery charge/discharge schedule based on electricity prices, solar forecasts, and load patterns. No external tools or additional HACS integrations are required.
Acknowledgement: The optimization approach was inspired by HAEO (Home Assistant Energy Optimizer).
The optimizer finds the cheapest way to run your home over the next 48 hours. It works out:
- When to charge the battery (cheapest grid periods, or from solar)
- When to discharge or export (highest price periods)
- When to leave the battery alone (when it's not worth the round-trip losses)
It runs every 5 minutes, updating the plan as prices and solar forecasts change.
| Action | What It Does | When It's Used |
|---|---|---|
| CHARGE | Force charge battery from grid | Cheap import periods (overnight off-peak) |
| EXPORT | Force discharge battery to grid | Expensive export periods (evening peak) |
| IDLE | Hold battery at current level | Grid is cheaper than the battery round-trip |
| SELF_CONSUMPTION | Battery operates naturally | Solar hours, moderate prices |
| OFF_GRID | Physically disconnect from grid (Tesla only) | Negative export prices — avoids paying to export |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| 48-Hour Planning | Plans battery actions for the next 48 hours |
| 5-Minute Resolution | Fine-grained control throughout the day |
| Solar Integration | Uses Solcast forecast data for solar predictions |
| Price Integration | Works with Amber, Localvolts, Octopus, Flow Power, AEMO, and TOU tariffs |
| EV Load Awareness | Incorporates planned EV charging into the load forecast |
| Daily Cost Tracking | Actual cost (midnight to now) + predicted cost (now to midnight) |
| Zero Setup | Built-in — no external integrations needed beyond Solcast |
| Off-Grid Curtailment | Automatically islands the Powerwall during negative export prices (opt-in, Tesla only) |
When enabled in Battery Setup > Local Control, the optimizer can physically disconnect the Powerwall from the grid during negative export price periods. This is a stronger curtailment method — the grid connection physically opens, guaranteeing zero export.
The optimizer identifies eligible periods and groups them into runs of at least 15 minutes to avoid rapid reconnection cycling. A reconnect window is automatically inserted before any upcoming charge period.
Requirements:
- Tesla Powerwall with completed gateway pairing
- Off-grid curtailment enabled in Battery Setup > Local Control
- Optimizer enabled
Safety gates:
- SOC floor (default 40%) — won't go off-grid below this battery level
- Daily duration cap (default 6 hours)
When the optimizer is enabled, the independent curtailment loop is bypassed to prevent conflicts. If the optimizer is disabled, the independent curtailment loop still works.
Solar continues producing while off-grid — it charges the battery and powers the home. The battery is the sole backup when solar is insufficient, which is why the SOC floor is important.
When using dynamic pricing (Amber, AEMO, Octopus Agile/Flux, Flow Power), the optimizer receives price forecasts up to 48 hours ahead. Near-term prices are accurate but far-future forecasts are speculative — a predicted 40c/kWh spike at 2am tomorrow might settle at 22c.
Without adjustment, the optimizer might charge overnight at 20c for a "spike" 18 hours away that never materialises, when cheaper midday solar charging is available in between.
Confidence decay pulls far-future above-average prices toward the average as they get further from now:
| Parameter | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Horizon | 4 hours | Prices within 4h are trusted completely (no decay) |
| Decay rate | 0.15 | How quickly speculative prices are discounted beyond the horizon |
With an average of 21c/kWh and a raw forecast price of 30c/kWh:
| Hours ahead | Decayed price |
|---|---|
| 5h (just outside horizon) | 30.0c (no decay yet) |
| 8h | 27.7c |
| 12h | 24.7c |
| 24h | 21.6c (nearly at average) |
The decay is asymmetric — only above-average prices are decayed. Below-average (cheap) prices are preserved because cheap periods are structurally reliable: midday solar dumps and off-peak overnight rates are predictable, not speculative.
This ensures the optimizer can see that midday at 15c is genuinely cheaper than overnight at 18c, and won't pre-charge overnight for a dubious far-future spike when cheaper daytime charging is available.
Note: Confidence decay is not applied to static TOU providers (GloBird, custom tariffs) where prices are known and fixed.
The LP optimizer learns your home's load patterns from the last 7 days of history. If you go on holiday, those 7 days fill with near-zero consumption data. When you return, the LP thinks you barely use any power and under-plans charging for evening loads.
Away Mode solves this in two stages:
Stage 1 — Enable before you leave While the switch is on, the LP continues using normal recent history. As the house sits empty, recent history naturally shows low loads, which biases the LP toward exports rather than reserving battery for non-existent home load. No manual intervention is needed during the trip.
Stage 2 — Disable when you get home Turning the switch off starts a 7-day recovery window. During this time the LP automatically excludes the entire vacation period from its history and backfills with the 7 days before you left — your normal pre-departure patterns. As each new day of real post-return usage accumulates, it slots into the reference window and gradually replaces the pre-vacation data. After 7 days the recovery window closes automatically and normal operation resumes.
If you accidentally toggle the switch on and off within an hour, it is treated as a no-op and no recovery window starts.
switch.power_sync_away_mode
It appears under your PowerSync device in Settings → Devices & Services → PowerSync → Configuration.
- Before leaving: turn the switch ON
- When you get home: turn the switch OFF — recovery starts automatically
- After ~7 days: the switch can be left off; normal history has fully repopulated
While recovering, sensor.power_sync_load_forecast_today exposes these attributes:
| Attribute | Description |
|---|---|
away_in_recovery |
true during the 7-day recovery window |
away_recovery_remaining_hours |
Hours until the window closes automatically |
away_enabled_at |
ISO timestamp of departure |
away_disabled_at |
ISO timestamp of return |
Note: Away mode affects the load forecast only. Solar forecasting uses weather/irradiance data and is unaffected.
The hardware backup reserve is a floor that the battery hardware enforces independently of the optimizer. This is useful as a safety net — even if the optimizer schedules a full discharge, the hardware won't go below this level.
- Set via the mobile app: Settings > Optimization > Reserve Levels > Hardware Backup Reserve
- This value is written directly to the battery hardware
- The optimizer's backup reserve is a separate, software-level floor used during schedule planning
- Typically set the hardware reserve a few percent below the optimizer reserve as a safety margin
Solcast Solar forecast is required. Without it, the optimizer cannot see when solar will be available and will make decisions based only on electricity prices — leading to unnecessary grid imports even when the sun is shining.
Configure one of:
- Solcast Solar HA integration (recommended) — install via HACS, PowerSync auto-detects it. No API key needed in PowerSync.
- Solcast API key in PowerSync — enter directly in the Weather & Solar Forecast settings. Requires a free account at toolkit.solcast.com.au.
- Install Solcast Solar (see prerequisites above)
- Go to Settings > Devices & Services > PowerSync > Configure
- Select Smart Optimization (Built-in LP) as your optimization provider
- Set your backup reserve percentage
- In the mobile app: Controls > toggle Enable on the Smart Optimization card
- View the schedule by tapping View Full Schedule
Use the power_sync.enable_optimizer and power_sync.disable_optimizer services in HA automations. For example, disable the optimizer during a manual force charge window and re-enable it afterwards:
automation:
- alias: "Disable optimizer for manual charge"
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.manual_charge
to: "on"
action:
- service: power_sync.disable_optimizer
- service: power_sync.force_charge
data:
duration_minutes: 60
- alias: "Re-enable optimizer after manual charge"
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.manual_charge
to: "off"
action:
- service: power_sync.enable_optimizerPowerSync creates forecast sensors for dashboard visibility:
| Sensor | Description | Unit |
|---|---|---|
sensor.powersync_price_import_forecast |
Grid import price forecast | $/kWh |
sensor.powersync_price_export_forecast |
Feed-in/export price forecast | $/kWh |
sensor.powersync_solar_forecast |
Solar PV generation forecast | W |
sensor.powersync_load_forecast |
Home consumption forecast | W |
Each sensor includes a forecast attribute with up to 576 data points (48 hours at 5-minute intervals).
The optimization screen in the mobile app shows:
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| Status | Whether optimization is active and the current mode |
| Current/Next Action | What the battery is doing now and what's coming next |
| Predicted Cost | Estimated electricity cost for the day |
| Savings | How much you're saving vs no optimization |
| 48-Hour Chart | Visual timeline of battery level and power |
| Upcoming Actions | List of scheduled charge/discharge periods |
