Optimizing Solar Energy Production with Tibber and Enphase

General
1

I’ve been exploring ways to optimize my solar energy production, especially during times when energy prices are negative. This typically happens when there’s an abundance of wind and solar power on the grid. I wanted to find a way to pause my solar panel production during these periods to avoid feeding energy back into the grid when it’s not needed.

After reaching out to Enphase support, I was initially directed towards a paid upgrade, which felt a bit frustrating. However, through some research and tinkering, I discovered a clever workaround using the Enphase Envoy-S-Standard-EU. By manipulating the digital port’s resistor, I can temporarily halt production. Here’s how I set it up:

  1. Hardware Setup: I connected a relay to the resistor on the Envoy. This allows me to control the relay remotely. I chose a Zigbee 4-channel relay module for its versatility and ease of integration with my existing smart home setup.

  2. Automation: I created a simple automation in Home Assistant using a sensor that tracks Tibber’s electricity prices. When the price drops below zero, the automation triggers the relay to disconnect the resistor, effectively stopping solar production.

Here’s a snippet of the automation configuration:

alias: Turn off solar production when energy price is negative
description: Turn off solar production when energy price is negative
trigger:

  • platform: state
    entity_id:
    • sensor.electricity_price_tibber
      condition:
      action:
  • if:
    • condition: numeric_state
      entity_id: sensor.electricity_price_tibber
      below: 0
      then:
      • type: turn_on
        device_id: 823e72a517eb4aa6468ca
        entity_id: b3a06ead7db486952a330
        domain: light
      • service: notify.notify
        metadata: {}
        data:
        message: >-
        Energy price is negative
        title: Energy price is negative
        else:
      • type: turn_off
        device_id: 823e72a517eb4aa6468ca
        entity_id: b3a06ead7db486952a330
        domain: light
        mode: single

This setup has been working perfectly for me, and I hope it can help others looking to optimize their solar energy usage. If you have any questions or improvements, feel free to share them below!