Discharging#

The discharging module controls when and how energy from the battery is sent to the grid or used to power the home. The key parameter is GridSetpoint.

GridSetpoint — how it works#

GridSetpoint determines how much energy should flow through the grid meter:

• Positive value (e.g. +100 W) — the system draws energy from the grid. Surplus PV goes to the battery.
• Negative value (e.g. -5000 W) — the system exports energy to the grid. First from PV, then from the battery.

Example 1: GridSetpoint = +100 W

Example 2: GridSetpoint = -5000 W

Example 3: GridSetpoint = -5000 W, lots of PV

To protect the battery during discharging:

• Set MinSOC — the battery will not go below this level
• Check “Block battery discharging” — the battery will not go below the current SOC (but can be charged)

First Step#

To start discharging:

1. Create one Discharge Plan (if one does not already exist)
2. victron-only If “Battery Life” is enabled in ESS — disable it. Set it to “Optimized (without BatteryLife)”

Normal Discharging#

To set normal discharging at a selected hour:

1. Check Enable for the selected hour
2. Enter Max GridSetpoint — a negative value, the maximum W that should go to the grid
3. (Optional) Enter MinSOC — restricts discharging to the specified SOC level

The program checks the current battery SOC. If MinSOC is higher than the current SOC, the program will send the current SOC. This prevents the battery from charging to MinSOC instead of discharging.

To test settings for the current hour — press Send data to installation now.

Hourly Tasks#

To automatically send data to the installation every hour:

1. Check Run task every hour
2. victron-only Enter the current MinSOC (from ESS in Cerbo) in the Default MinSOC after discharging field
3. victron-only Enter the current GridSetpoint (from ESS) in the Default GridSetpoint after discharging field
4. Save changes

• Every hour the program sends discharging data only for hours with “Enable” checked
• After the last discharging hour, the program restores the default values
• The option “Do not discharge if Sale Price < last purchase price” blocks discharging when selling would not be profitable

Conditional Discharging — when price > minimum#

To discharge only when the sale price exceeds a threshold:

1. Check Enable for the selected hour
2. Enter Max GridSetpoint (negative value)
3. (Optional) Enter MinSOC
4. Check Only if Price > MinSalePrice
5. Enter the limit in MinSalePrice

Blocking battery discharging / charging#

To block discharging (or charging) of the battery below the current SOC:

1. Check Enable for the selected hour
2. victron-only Enter Max GridSetpoint
3. Check Block battery discharging (or Block battery charging)

victron-only The program sets MinSOC in ESS to the current SOC value, which blocks discharging but allows charging. After that hour, MinSOC returns to the default value.

victron-only If you set “Block battery discharging” with GridSetpoint = large negative value (e.g. minus total PV power), all PV energy will go to the grid and the battery will not charge. This can be used to delay battery charging.

Dynamic Discharge (DD)#

Dynamic Discharge automatically searches for hours with the highest sale price and sets discharging during those hours.

Do not use this feature with the price-based optimizer!

To configure DD:

1. Add at least one discharging period
2. Enter from what hour and how many hours the program should search
   • 24 hours → start hour is irrelevant, the program checks 24h from the current hour
   • Less than 24h → the program checks from the specified hour. If the period has passed — it checks the next day
3. Enter how many hours you want to discharge
4. For all hours in the period — enter Max GridSetpoint
5. To automate: check Run task every hour and Automatically optimize DD and DDBD

To test — press Optimize dynamic discharging now.

The program marks hours with the maximum sale price and blocks the rest. It skips hours without a GridSetpoint entered and hours when charging is active.

If you define two DD periods for the same time — the first finds hours with the highest prices, the second searches for the next highest (excluding already found ones).

Dynamic MinSOC by the Optimizer#

To have the optimizer in /rewrite-GbbOptimizer-manual/en/configuration/battery-forecast/ dynamically change MinSOC:

1. Check Enable (or use DD/DDBD to enable)
2. Enter Max GridSetpoint
3. Check Optimize MinSOC by Battery Forecast
4. (Optional) Enter MinimalSOC — lower discharging limit by the optimizer
5. (Optional) Check Only if Price > MinPrice and enter MinPrice

Example: The program discharges the battery at 21:00 (highest sale price) to make room for PV energy by 16:00. SOC never drops below MinSOC.

Dynamic Battery Discharge Blocking (DDBD)#

DDBD (Dynamically Disable Battery Discharge) forces PV production to be sent to the grid until the price is at its lowest — at which point it is better to charge the battery from PV rather than sell.

Do not use this feature with the price-based optimizer!

To configure DDBD:

1. Add at least one period
2. Enter from what hour and how many hours the program should search for the minimum purchase price
3. Enter how many hours you want to charge the battery
4. For all hours in the period — enter Max GridSetpoint (large negative value)
5. To automate: check Run task every hour and Automatically optimize DD and DDBD

To test — press Optimize battery blocking now.

Disable DDBD if battery will not be charged#

The program can check whether, after the DDBD period ends, the battery will be charged to the required level. If not — it disables DDBD once.

Parameters:

• Number of charging hours — how many hours the battery should charge
• Only if SOC increases by at least X % — required SOC increase during charging hours

If the “only if SOC increases…” field is empty, the optimizer does not check whether the battery will be charged to the required level.

Automatic discharging activation (day/night)#

The program can automatically enable discharging only during the day or only at night, based on sunrise and sunset times.

Requires latitude and longitude to be set in installation parameters.

Discharging Parameters#

Sale Price ≤ 0#

Special operations when the sale price is negative or equal to 0:

Victron#

Solarman (Deye)#

DeyeCloud#

HomeAssistant / GbbConnect#