# \# \[HOW-TO\]\[Pro\] Reduce solar export with PELS

**URL:** <https://community.homey.app/t/how-to-pro-reduce-solar-export-with-pels/160917>\
**Category:** Tutorials\
**Created:** [October 15, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/how-to-pro-reduce-solar-export-with-pels/160917 "2026-10-15T19:38:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
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**Author:** ![Ole\_Markus\_With](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/community.homey.app/ole_markus_with/32/148535_2.png) [@Ole\_Markus\_With](https://community.homey.app/u/Ole_Markus_With)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 7:38pm UTC](https://community.homey.app/t/how-to-pro-reduce-solar-export-with-pels/160917/1 "2026-10-15T19:38:04Z")

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If you are trying to reduce what you send back to the grid, this is how to configure [PELS Energy Manager | Homey](https://homey.app/a/com.barelysufficient.pels/) to use it for heating, EV charging and other loads, and how that works alongside a zero-export inverter.

There are two parts to the setup:

- **Use the power at home.** PELS can raise heating targets, run suitable on/off devices and adjust EV charging to the available solar. This reduces export while those devices can use the power.
- **Stop the remaining export.** That needs an export limit in your inverter or its energy-management system. PELS does not set that limit. When the car is full and the heating no longer needs power, there is nothing more for PELS to absorb.

So if your requirement is zero export, configure that through your inverter’s supported controls. PELS can then help use production that would otherwise be curtailed, subject to the requirements below. If you just want to reduce exported kWh, you can use the device controls without an inverter export limit.

This assumes PELS is already installed and receiving whole-home power. Otherwise, start with [Getting Started](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/getting-started).

_The screenshots use example data in the mobile dark theme. They illustrate the settings and readings to check, rather than results measured in a particular home._

## Step 1: Check the power readings

PELS needs a whole-home power reading that includes export.

With the **Power meter** source, this comes through Homey Energy. Check that Homey Energy also shows your solar production.

If you use the **Flow** source, send signed net power to **Report power usage** : positive when importing and negative when exporting. If your meter gives separate import and export values, send `import − export`, in watts.

For a zero-export setup, use **Power meter**. The estimate needs net grid power and solar production from the same reading, which the Flow source does not currently provide to it.

There is more on the power-source setup in [Using Homey Energy](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/homey-energy).

## Step 2: Choose which devices should use the solar

Open **Settings → Devices** and configure the devices that have useful work to do during the day. The setting depends on the device:

| Device | Setting | Behaviour |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Heating with a temperature target | **Use solar surplus** | Raises the temperature target by the configured amount. |
| On/off device | **Run on solar surplus** | Keeps it off until enough surplus is available, then turns it on. |
| EV charger with current control | **Charge on solar surplus** | Selects charging levels the surplus can cover. |
| Other device with power levels | **Match solar surplus** | Selects a level the surplus can cover. |

For an EV, first configure current control as described in [Configure an EV Charger](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/ev-charger), then enable **Charge on solar surplus** on its device page. The minimum charging current is 6 A, roughly 1.4 kW on one phase or 4.1 kW on three. Below the lowest usable level, PELS uses the device’s configured **Power limiting** action. Check that setting if you want charging to stop rather than remain at a low level.

 ![Charge on solar surplus enabled on an EV charger](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/4/7/47c81dcf4ed5d4b0072ab34134010ade319e97e9.png)

_The charger adjusts its current to the solar available. An active Smart task takes precedence._

If the car must be ready by a particular time, add a **Smart task**. Its schedule takes precedence over surplus-only operation and may use grid power. Solar-only charging cannot guarantee a charged car after several cloudy days.

For an on/off device, be aware that **Run on solar surplus** also means PELS will turn it off again if you manually switch it on without enough surplus. Use it for loads that can wait, not your only source of essential hot water.

 ![Run on solar surplus enabled for an on/off device](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/1/8/183a178075fe86af4a5e18074863cae389d12e87.png)

_This setting also lets PELS turn the device off when the surplus is gone._

### Heating example

1. Open **More → Apps → PELS → Settings → Devices**.
2. Open the heating device.
3. Enable **Managed by PELS** and set a temperature target for the current mode.
4. Enable **Use solar surplus**.
5. Set **Solar-surplus boost** to the temperature increase you want while surplus is available.

 ![Use solar surplus enabled on a heating device](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/9/a/9ae838316c59108a35232c11531bd5fe8ea40e8f.png)

The setting applies to this device. You can enable it on some heating devices and leave it off on others.

 ![Solar-surplus boost set to 2 degrees Celsius](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/3/4/34e0793e595b328b7ed0bba1bf4e17795422893f.png)

Here the boost is 2 °C. With a normal target of 21 °C, PELS would ask for 23 °C while the solar boost is active. Choose an increase that makes sense for the room or tank you are controlling.

If you have changed **When the temperature changes outside PELS** , this setup needs **Return to mode target**. The other choices disable automatic temperature adjustments.

## Step 3: Set the priority order

Put the devices in the order you want them to receive solar in the current mode. For example, put the car above heating if charging it matters more than raising room temperatures.

If you have a battery PELS can control, its position matters too. Below the car, PELS can reduce the battery’s charging to make solar available to the car. Above the car, the battery gets priority. This requires battery control to be enabled; a battery PELS can only observe remains under its own controller.

The battery case is described in [Solar and home batteries](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/use-cases/homey-solar-home-battery).

## Step 4: Check the result at the meter

Check both the live reading and the daily totals. They answer different questions.

### Is the power being used now?

The Overview shows net grid power and the current split between solar used at home and solar exported.

 ![Overview example with 2.1 kW exported](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/f/b/fbaa703b57f417d6fe1174905610a7486f9ad475.png)

_Example with export: 3.2 kW produced, 1.1 kW used at home and 2.1 kW exported. The negative Power now reading is net export._

 ![Overview example with all solar used at home](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/c/c/cc2cd90cc1475934be012f1100295579884f237a.png)

_Example with all solar used at home: production is still 3.2 kW, with 0.1 kW imported. These are two illustrative states, not a recorded before-and-after test._

When checking your own setup, watch actual device power as well as the grid reading. Export falling while production stays roughly steady and device consumption rises is evidence that the additional load is using the solar. Export falling because a cloud passed is not the same result.

For heating, the device can show **Raised to use your solar power**. Check that its consumption increases too: a raised target alone does not mean the thermostat is calling for heat. The boost is held briefly when surplus disappears, then removed if it does not return.

### How much was exported over the day?

Open **Usage** and look at the **Solar** card.

 ![Solar statistics showing production, self-consumption, export and previous days](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/athom/original/3X/5/c/5c11127bf58f3f57ba40e39bd8676f5485de2caa.png)

_Example data: 12.0 kWh produced so far, 10.6 kWh used at home and 1.4 kWh exported. The 88% figure is self-consumption. Previous days provide a longer view than the live reading._

This is the screen to use when checking whether you are reducing exported kWh. Compare complete days with similar production and note whether the car was plugged in and the heating needed to run. Today’s partial total is not directly comparable with a completed day.

The card counts all solar used at home, including consumption that PELS did not control. It does not attribute an increase in self-consumption to PELS. Likewise, **Grid cost avoided today** estimates the value of all self-consumed solar using the available import prices; it is not a measurement of savings caused by enabling these settings. The example uses €0.28/kWh import and €0.04/kWh export.

On a zero-export setup, low export alone does not show that more solar was used: the inverter may simply have reduced production. Check actual production and device consumption together when the load starts. The Solar card records produced energy, not the energy the inverter could have produced.

## If you already have a zero-export inverter

With export limited at the inverter, the meter no longer tells PELS how much additional solar is available. The setup above therefore needs the unused-production estimate to work.

To estimate this, PELS compares a solar forecast with actual production. If there appears to be unused production, it can raise the heating target. As the device draws more power, the inverter should increase production to cover it.

There is some uncertainty here. A forecast can be wrong, so PELS checks what happens after the extra load starts. If grid import rises enough to show that solar is not covering it, PELS withdraws the estimate and backs away from the boost. It then waits before trying again. There can be some grid import while this happens.

A few things to know:

- It needs the **Power meter** source and solar production readings through Homey Energy.
- It needs a usable solar forecast. PELS can use Homey Energy’s forecast or its own learned forecast. The learned forecast needs production history, so this may not work immediately on a new installation.
- The estimate is disabled when PELS detects a home battery. A battery absorbing solar can look like an inverter limiting production, and PELS cannot reliably distinguish the two from these readings. Measured-export features can still work with a battery.

You use the same heating settings shown above. The screenshots describe exporting in the helper text; in a zero-export home, it is the estimated unused production that allows the boost instead.

The inverter remains responsible for enforcing its export limit. PELS does not change that setting.

## Set the export price if you also use scheduling

Under **Settings → Electricity prices** , enable **Use an export price**. If you use Homey Energy prices, choose **Homey Energy** under **Where the price comes from** to use the feed-in price configured there. This is useful when your export price changes with the market.

PELS uses the export price when planning flexible consumption in hours where it expects solar to cover it. The per-device solar controls above respond to available surplus; entering a negative export price is not an instruction to shut down the inverter.

## If you are still exporting

Check what is limiting consumption:

- **The car is full, unplugged or below its minimum charging level.** It cannot take the remaining production.
- **The room or tank has reached its raised target.** Increasing the target further only makes sense if you need the additional heat.
- **An on/off load needs more power than the surplus available.** PELS waits rather than deliberately filling the difference with grid power.
- **A configured limit is holding devices back.** Solar settings do not override capacity or daily-budget limits.
- **The inverter is already limiting export, but devices stay idle.** Check the Power meter source, production readings and forecast availability. The unused-production estimate does not operate with a detected home battery.

Some export during changes in production or device demand is expected with load control. If you need the remaining export curtailed, that is the job of the inverter’s export control. PELS cannot guarantee zero export by switching household loads.

More detail: [Solar and Self-Consumption](https://pels.barelysufficient.org/solar).