Tesla Powerwall 3 Now Tells Heat Pumps When to Store Cheap Solar as Heat

Tesla keeps finding new jobs for the home battery. Its new Heat Pump Optimization feature lets the Powerwall 3 and the three-phase Powerwall 3P tell a compatible heat pump when to run harder, so a home can bank cheap or surplus solar energy as hot water, Electrek reports. According to Tesla's support page, the Powerwall watches electricity prices and solar production through the day and sends the heat pump one of two signals: run normally, or boost. On boost, the heat pump heats water beyond what the home needs right now, typically into a domestic hot water or buffer tank, and that stored heat carries the house through expensive hours. The feature is live in Europe only; Tesla has said nothing about the US or Canada, where the hardware standard it relies on barely exists. Sunshine turned into a warm shower: that is Tesla's energy future.